Earthside
by tarnath
Summary: A fanfiction based on Scott Sava's 'Dreamland Chronicles' and continuing user Jay-Em Stevens' 'A Day Like No Other', this story details Felicity's second trip to Earth and the unexpected adventures she has with the new friends she meets there.
1. Chapter 1 - Lost

.

Chapter 1 - Lost

-Earth-

Autumn, 2011

"As you can see in this slide, contributions are up four percent from last year at this time, putting us on target for our projections." The old man at the head of the table had been speaking for twenty minutes and showed no signs of slowing down. His slideshow was the sole source of light in the room. "Recent budgetary adjustments explain this variation…" Everyone in the crowd of well-dressed individuals around the table listened intently to the director, except for one.

' _Why does an intern need to attend a budget committee meeting?'_ thought the young man at the back corner of the room. ' _I'm just a researcher. I could be getting so much else done right now…'_ He looked back to his notepad. Since the meeting began, the blank page in front of him had transformed into a map of another world with some notes of its history in the margins. A castle by the shore dominated the region, while elves from the forests struggled valiantly against orc raiders. _'If only the real world were as interesting as…uh-oh…'_ The ceiling lights flashed on.

The intern looked up to find the entire committee facing him. "I said, how are the recent economic indicators looking, Mr. Anderson? You _are_ with us at this meeting, no?" asked the director from the end of the table, a hint of disappointment on his face.

Mr. Anderson stood up. "Of course. As noted on page 3 of the handout, at the bottom, analysis is ongoing," the intern explained with confidence as he effortlessly shifted from the imaginary world back to Earth. "Municipal tax totals from last year are listed just after that, though as I cite on page 4, the census population estimates will not be out for another month. Again, it's all right here in the packet." He held up a copy of the paperwork each committeeman had in front of him, and smiled at the director as he took his seat. The audience considered the report in silence, some members slowly nodding, others glancing through the packet he had just referenced.

The director was unmoved. "Thank you Jacob, that is all. You may return to your cubical now."

' _You mean my cell_ ,' thought Jake as he quickly gathered his materials and left the room without a word. The director followed him out into the hallway as another committeeman began his report.

"Are you ever really here, Jacob?" inquired the director.

"Well, I've been on time every day, and with the overtime-"

"You know what I mean." He pointed to the drawing Jake had failed to hide among his other paperwork. "I don't understand how one day, you can put together an excellent quarterly report, and the next, display the attention span of a ten-year-old during our meeting," he sighed. "You're good, but you just don't have the attitude for a job like this. Why don't you take the rest of the day off? In fact, take next week as well. I'm sure we'll manage without you. I want you to take that time to consider if this research position with my company is right for you after all. And maybe start investigating…other options for yourself if you cannot conform to the employee culture here." Without waiting for a response, the director returned to the boardroom, closing the door behind him.

' _Thank you, sir. A week off would be wonderful,'_ Jake thought as he scribbled a few notes to himself at his desk before leaving, perhaps for the last time. _'Conform or leave. There's no excitement in office work, anyway. Just talk, and meetings…'_

It was a blustery autumn afternoon as Jake drove through University City from the office complex where he worked to the college that had inspired the town's name. A chilly Midwest wind was bringing an early hint of winter as clouds gathered on the western horizon. The school had arranged the internship position for him as an opportunity for research experience, but so far, the only lesson Jake had learned was how mundane office life really was. _'At least they're paying me. Plus, the alternative was helping the professors teach undergrads',_ he reminded himself as he arrived at Strahler Hall, home of the graduate student and researcher offices.

The hall was nearly vacant. By Friday afternoon, most of the students and faculty had either completed their work or given up for the weekend. Despite what had happened at the board meeting, Jake whistled happily on the way to his campus office, passing several other faculty and students. The freedom promised by the upcoming week put him in a cheerful mood.

"Hey, Mark." He greeted one of the other grads as he entered the office. Jake shared a room with several other students and researchers.

"Hello, Jake. What's new with you this fine Friday afternoon?"

"Another boring day at work, and looking forward to a light class load next week. How about you? Anything exciting going on around here?"

"I'm just finishing this presentation…now." Mark clicked the 'send' button, zapping an email off into the cyberspshere. "That, and campus security has been stepped up today. Someone broke in to the university museum last night." He held up a copy of the school newspaper with the word STOLEN printed in giant letters on the front page.

Jake took the paper and glanced through the story. "Wow. Looks like they cleared out the old jewelry collections. A bunch of old Native American pieces missing, too. Makes me glad I went with history instead of anthropology – no one bothers to steal old medieval records. Glad I'm not caught up in this."

Mark gave him a questioning look. "Really? You're the one always complaining about the lack of excitement in academia. A robbery like this on campus sounds like the perfect opportunity for you. Like in those fantasy books we always see you reading in here instead of doing your class work. I'm surprised you don't already have a Sherlock Holmes hat and coat on, looking for the thief," he joked.

"Tempting," Jake laughed. "Nah, let the heroes and thieves stay in my stories. There's too much risk getting involved in something like this in real life. And I'll get my homework done… eventually." He returned his attention to the news story. There was a picture of one of the stolen articles, an ancient pendant, further on in the newspaper. It was a green gem set in silver, looped on a silver chain forming a necklace. "What does campus police have to say about this?"

"Heightened security for the next few days. Only students and staff permitted on campus property, and the guards will be checking for identification if you look suspicious. No one got a look at the thief, and the school never did budget the money for surveillance cameras like they said they would."

"Well, that's because we're a public institution, so we depend on the state for money, and our state is broke," Jake said matter-of-factly as he skimmed the story again. He set down the paper and turned towards his own desk, hanging up his long coat and removing his gray tie. "But I guess the extra security will help since its Halloween next week. That means more parties and trouble from the younger students. You have any plans for the weekend?"

"Yeah, getting out of here. Heading up to Madison to see family and friends. Halloween party, maybe. Have you started your thesis yet?" Mark asked.

"Is it due tomorrow?" Jake sighed. "Going through those medieval finance records again is the last thing I want to do with my time tonight."

"You chose that subject. Do you have any real plans for this afternoon?"

"No, just get caught up on some class work. I might be taking some time off next week," Jake replied as he turned on to his computer.

"Right, 'class work,' like those online adventure comics you'll inevitably end up reading instead. Or more drawings. Seriously Jake, you must be the least motivated history grad in your department. It's a miracle you get anything done," Mark replied as he gathered some paperwork and donned his coat.

"Hasn't stopped me from getting the highest class grades, somehow. Besides, sometimes I just need a distraction to keep life interesting."

"'Sometimes' is all the time for you," Mark said as he walked out the door. "Have a good weekend."

"You, too" Jake called after him before turning back to his desk. _'I can't help it if we live in the Boring Age...'_ He took out the map he had been sketching earlier and added more details as his computer slowly hummed to life. He drew an Elven tree-city in the south and a mountain kingdom in the northwest. He then went to attach the map to his corkboard alongside some others, only to find that his stapler was missing – he would need to go find a replacement.

Eve, the building secretary, was just leaving as Jake arrived at the administrative office two floors down. "Good afternoon, Jacob. Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for a new stapler. Do I need to submit a request for one or are there any around I could take?"

"I'm sorry, but we're low on supplies at the moment. Our delivery was pushed back to next week. You'll need to check back then." Eve shooed him out of her office as she locked the door. "If you're staying late to study again, would you mind locking the main entrance on your way out? You're the only one left in the building with a key."

"Sure, no problem. Who else is here?" Jake asked, eager to help.

"Nathan is finishing up in the map room, and some undergrad was napping in the student lounge earlier today. I'm not sure if she's left yet. Can you make sure they're both out before you go?"

"Of course."

"Security has been stepped up on campus because of the robbery last night if you haven't heard, so if you have any trouble there should be an officer or two nearby outside. Have a good weekend, Jacob."

"You too, Eve. See you on Monday."

Jake returned to his office after given up on finding a stapler. Nathan had finished for the day and left shortly after Eve, making him the sole waking person in the building, apart from an occasional visit by campus police. _'My own personal kingdom for the evening,'_ he thought as he began a half-hearted attempt to outline a project due in two weeks. But within ten minutes, he was back in the fantasies of distraction – there would be sufficient time later to complete the assignment, he knew.

Hours passed. _'Maybe I should have been a writer, or something more creative,'_ he mused as he put the final touches on a sketch of the castle from his map earlier in the day.

Jake peered out the window. It was nearly dark. The overcast sky vailed the sunset and promised a wet night, possibly even snow. The clouds had transitioned through steadily darker shades of gray until blackness descended on the city. A red glow to the east under-lit the clouds, a reminder of the great metropolis in that direction, miles away from cornfield-bound University City. The streetlights flickered on, one by one. With the day ending, Jake decided to return home.

He checked his phone; no messages, as normal. "Sigh…" He shut down the computer and surveyed the room a final time before taking the newspaper Mark had left. _'Just a fifteen-minute drive, and I will be home to read until I fall asleep. Maybe Dune or the Lord of the Rings…'_ Jake considered his options for the night as he walked down the hall. _'Several exciting days to explore better places than middle-of-nowhere, Illinois. Then back to this drudgery. I wish I didn't need to work on my thesis, though. Or find a new job…'_ He locked the office door and descended to the main floor of the building.

After seeing that the door to the student lounge was still open, he recalled Eve's message about the student sleeping there. From the end of the hall, he called, "I hereby order that this building be vacated! Time to go, undergrad! If you're still there!"

No response. _'That kid must really be out of it. Oh well, a good prodding should fix that.'_

Jake found the person still asleep on a couch in the lounge, with her back to the door and the hood on her jacket drawn up. Tufts of red hair stuck out from under it. _'Sleeping in a university office hall on a Friday night? At least I'm not the only one here without a life,'_ he thought.

He stood at the doorway and called in as authoritative a voice as he could muster, "You are hereby commanded to leave this building. Time to go home." Not a twitch from the sleeper. Jake crossed the room, muttering to himself, "sigh… come on, kid. It's late. You really need to get going." He reached down to gently shake her by the shoulder. "Listen, I'm leaving now, so-" He froze mid-sentence as the girl suddenly stirred, swiftly turned her head and looked up at him. Jake found himself staring into two green eyes set in an orange, black and white face of fur. "…C-cat?" was all he could stammer out before he realized he was falling. An instant later, Jake was pinned face-down to the floor by the girl with the green eyes and tiger-striped face.

There followed several tense moments in which Jake laid on his stomach in stunned silence, wondering what to do, as the girl quickly scanned the room. She watched the door for a few seconds, listening, before returned her attention to Jake. His mind slowly began to work again. _'I've been attacked by …something. Need to call security…'_

The fur-faced individual looked at Jake thoughtfully for a moment. "You're not dressed like the other guards here," she observed. "Are you one of them? Who's with you? Is anyone else waiting out there?"

"N-No. Just me, just a student," Jake answered shakily. He tried to look up at his assailant. "Who are you?"

The assailant smiled. "Name's Felicity." She got up and helped Jake to his feet as well. She stood about a head shorter than Jake. "Sorry about tackling you just now. I wasn't sure who you were when I heard you walking down the hall, so…" Felicity explained with a shrug.

"No, that's…understandable, I guess." Jake thought for a moment as he rubbed the back of his head, thankful for the thick carpeting in the room. "I'm Jacob, by the way." He offered his hand.

She shook it. "Glad to meet you, Jake." Her hand was as fur-covered as her face, and her fingernails were reminiscent of feline claws. Felicity appeared to be a normal woman in her mid twenties, except that every inch of what should have been exposed flesh was covered in orange and white fur with black stripes, like a tiger. Her face, though mostly human under the fur, had a general feline air to it as well. With the hood of her green zip-up hoodie lowered, Jake noticed two long pointed ears decorated with gold rings, while straight red hair flowed halfway down her back and over her forehead. Her blue cargos stopped above the ankles, exposing more orange and black fur above her shoes. Her wrists were adorned with some kind of long armband studded with jewels, one on each arm, which extended up into the sleeves of the hoodie.

"So… what's with the costume?" Jake asked as he tried to comprehend the figure before him, and perhaps keep her talking long enough to contact the police.

"What costume?" Felicity replied, tilting her head to one side in confusion.

"The fur make-up, the fake ears and nails, the jewelry…"

Felicity bent one of her ears, and it immediately snapped pack into position when she let go. "No costume here, kiddo. Just…me."

"No way. That must be fake."

"Oh? And how do I know that your pale skin, glasses and fancy clothes ain't fake? Maybe _you're_ the one in a costume, buddy!" she shot back, still smiling.

Jake regarded her for a moment, then closed his eyes and shook his head. "How do I know I'm not dreaming?" he whispered himself.

"Why wouldn't you think this is real?"

"Because you don't usually find catpeople on campus, maybe? Beside, why were you even sleeping in here this late? I've never seen you in this department."

"Uh, I was tired?" she replied. "I had a late night yesterday. When I saw someone else asleep in here earlier, I thought that's what this room was used for."

"No, this is the day lounge. That was probably just someone napping between classes." Jake decided that contacting the police would not be necessary - despite the ambush, Felicity seemed harmless enough. He glanced at his phone for the time, starting to get tired of Felicity's game, whatever it was. "Look, it's getting late, and I need to lock this building up for the night. But I can give you a ride back to your residence hall if you want. Where do you live?"

"Dreamland."

"…Dreamland?"

"That's right," she explained eagerly. "You know, home to great castles, dragons, monsters and magic. Don't you remember it?"

Another thoughtful pause from Jake followed. "Um….no. Are you even a student here?" he asked suspiciously.

"No, I was looking for an old friend. But I may have ended up in the wrong town…" Felicity replied with a distant look in her eyes, as if suddenly lost in thought.

"Wait, how do you go to visit someone and end up in the wrong town?" Jake pressed, oblivious to the distractedness of her reply.

"I'm not sure. The teleportation spell from Dreamland worked fine a few months ago. I ended up at Nicole's school, here on Earth, and found her right away…" Felicity snapped her attention back to the present. "Nicole is the friend I'm looking for. She would visit me in Dreamland every night back when we were kids. We fell outta touch as she grew up, but rediscovered each other not too long ago." Felicity's face beamed at the memory. "But then yesterday when I tried to use the same spell to see her again, I wound up in this place," she finished, motioning around her.

The doubt was clear on Jake's face. "Sure… Well, wherever you're from, you can't stay in this building any longer. I'm closing it for the night. Also, if you haven't heard, the campus is under a bit of a security situation right now, so non-students, such as yourself, shouldn't even be here."

"Drats. And here I thought I'd found a safe, dry place for tonight…" Felicity slumped her shoulders in disappointed.

"There's a motel some way south of here on Fairview Street, near the tollway. That's probably your best bet," Jake suggested, the desire to help momentarily overcoming his wish to simply get home for the evening.

Felicity pulled several gold coins from her pocket. "Do you think they take Dreamland sheckels for payment?" She flipped one of the coins in the air and let it land on the table next to them. It spun for a few seconds before falling on its side.

Jake sighed in frustration. He was tired and just wanted to leave. Strangers claiming to be from other worlds belonged in books, and had no logical reason to be in his office building. "Please, enough. Excellent costume, superb details on the backstory, plus realistic props, too. Whatever cosplay show or costume contest you're entering with this, I wish you the best. But please, come back to Earth for a moment. You need to leave, back to your residence hall, or 'Dreamland,' or anywhere else you want to, so I can go home. OK?"

Felicity was taken aback by the outburst. "Fine, be that way, Jake! I'll leave…" She turned and walked towards the door, muttering to herself, "So much for finding friends here. Back to square one…" She stopped at the door, glanced back at Jake with sad, hurt eyes, and then was gone. Moments later, Jake heard the front door slam shut as she walked out into the night.

' _Maybe I should_ _call security…but she seems harmless enough.'_ Jake picked up the gold coin Felicity had left on the table and studied it. _'I could have been nicer, though… Should I apologize? …Meh. She's gone now.'_ One side of the coin was emblazed with an image of a reptilian head and the words 'Rex Nicodemus Dreamland.' The reverse had a large '10' on it. _'Real metal. This is actually kind of impressive. I wish I could be as dedicated to a hobby as she is to this cosplay character. Though I wonder exactly who she was supposed to be…"_ He glanced at the clock on the wall. _'I guess it's not THAT late. No harm in taking a few minutes to see what I can find online,'_ Jake thought as he headed back up the stairs to his office. He switched on the computer, hoping he had enough clues for Google to give him an answer. Though skeptical of her story, he wanted to find out who that girl had been pretending to be. _'Having another fantasy world to explore in my down time wouldn't be so bad.'_

But she had seemed so authentic. A part of Jake wanted – hoped – believed – that she had been telling the truth. That she really was from another world, and had somehow managed to find her way to Earth. Perhaps this was the adventure he had always been hoping for, that the other grads teased him for wanting.

He started entering search terms. _'Felicity… Dreamland… Where could that be from? Lovecraft? No, not those Dreamlands. Contact? Can't be, that was science-fiction,'_ Jake thought as he scrolled through the results. _'Felicity… catgirl… Nicole… Dreamland… Not from Heinlein, not Forgotten Realms, not DC or Marvel…maybe…Success!'_ Google had found a match.

' _The Dreamland Chronicles. So, she's a webcomic character. Interesting… But where is… here we go, story and character summary.'_ Jake spent a few minutes exploring the website and comic summary, learning the basics of the characters and the premise of the story. _'Dreamland: a magical realm that children visit when they dream. Somehow a guy named Alex Carter is dragged back to Dreamland as an adult to fulfill his destiny as King. Sounds like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign'_ he thought as he made his way through the site.

' _Alex falls in love with an elf-princess, her parents get captured by a dragon, and Alex fights the dragon for the throne of Dreamland. Classic…'_ He skimmed ahead, looking for any reference to the catgirl he had just met. _'Now I see. Alex has some help along the way. Looks like Felicity even rescues him from a dungeon and steals some magical artifact from the dragon. A rock-giant, a fairy, a centaur and a few more elves round out the central cast. And Nicole?'_

Jake kept reading. _'Oh cool. There's an earthside storyline as well. Back in the waking-world, Nicole and Alex's brother Daniel try to figure out what these dreams are all about, then help him plan the fight against the dragon. Huh…'_ He bookmarked the site for later use. _'Pretty cool premise, interesting characters and great artwork. And apparently a dedicated fanbase, judging by all the feedback in the comments section. Definitely worth checking out at some point. In fact…'_ he came to a realization. _'Those new books at home Jess bought for me… I think this was it. The style is so similar. I guess they just moved to the top of my to-read list. Well, now I have answers. Time to go.'_

After closing up the office again, Jake headed down the stairs and out the door of Strahler Hall, locking it behind him. He shivered in the cold night air. It began to rain as he made his way towards the parking garage down the street. Drops of rain glistened against the dark background of night while the dampened pavement reflected the streetlight's silver glow. Walking through the urban canyon of offices and lecture halls, Jake marveled at the scene as he fiddled with the Dreamland sheckel coin in his hand. _'Raining, long-coat attire, walking through a deserted city block on a Friday night, off to escape into a world of fiction for the weekend…how dystopian our world is. Just needs a police siren…'_

As if on cue, the loud wail of a police car erupted down the street behind him. Jake shook his head at the coincidence, but then froze mid-step as several pieces of information finally clicked together in his mind. _'The stolen artifacts from the museum last night… Felicity said she'd had a late night… and the webcomic described her character in the story as a thief…'_ Jake paused under a streetlight for a moment, then turned and looked up the street behind him.

The police car had stopped, lights flashing, about half a block to the north. _'You're really taking this character acting a bit too seriously, aren't you Felicity? How did you even get into the museum?'_ Jake's thoughts turned to himself. _'Should I let her get caught, if that is her? It's not my business. And that's probably not even her, anyway.'_

But then something Mark had said earlier in the day came back to him as well. "You're the one always complaining about the lack of excitement, Jake." _'Well, let's make life interesting. Take a chance.'_ He turned around, and started walking in the direction of the flashing lights.

Jake made his way up the deserted street towards the police car, not sure what he would encounter, though as he got closer, he somehow knew that Felicity would be involved. And sure enough, as he approached the end of the block, there she was. The catgirl stood balancing on the back of a sidewalk bench while a police officer waited by the car, talking to her. Jake recognized the policeman by his voice as one of the campus traffic cops during the day, and a classmate from the previous semester.

"I'm not going to ask you again, ma'am. You're going to need to come down here, and show me some identification, or I'll have to arrest you," the officer was saying.

Felicity laughed in reply. "Ha! When pigs fly! You'll have to catch me first!" As the officer took a few steps forward, she jumped effortlessly from the bench to a tree branch above in a way that no human was ever able to.

The officer automatically moved a hand to his sidearm in surprise. "How in… That's it. You're under arrest for-"

"STOP!" Jake called as he approached the scene after running the last stretch.

Surprised, the officer turned and faced him. "Jacob Anderson, you know better than to get involved in a police issue like this." Felicity watched them cautiously.

"Oh common, Allen," Jake replied. "Don't you recognize Jess? That's my sister." He snuck a quick smile at Felicity, who responded with the barest hint of a nod after a moment's hesitation.

Allen looked at Felicity, struggling to discern her features in the rainy darkness, then turned back to Jake. "That's Jessica? Really?"

"Yeah, she's in that Shakespeare performance downtown tomorrow. She's been trying to get in character all week. You didn't notice her costume pics on facebook?" Years of reading stories had trained Jake to come up with his own at a moment's notice when he had to. He didn't care if the story was true, he just needed a reasonable-sounding explanation.

"Apparently not. I never realized she was into acting, I guess." The cop looked up at Felicity, still sounding slightly confused. "How did you jump like that? It was like something a ninja would do."

"Practice," she called down with a grin.

Allen sighed and turned his attention back to Jake. "Ok, I'll let this go. Jess could be nicer when dealing with the police, though. You're just darn lucky that I happen to know both of you, and that I didn't call in the stop to HQ first, like normal. Otherwise, I'd need to follow through. With security tight like this after the museum break-in, we'll need to see actual identification from now on. No more vouching for someone you know." Allen looked up to Felicity, and back at Jake. "Have a good night, you two." He then got into the police car and left. A light rain continued to fall.

' _Our ever-vigilant campus police,'_ Jake thought as he watched the police car speed away. After making it down from the tree, Felicity walked over to where Jake was standing under a nearby streetlight, and looked up at him without a hint of the tension from their previous encounter. "So I'm your sister now? Jess, was it?"

"Jessica. And only if we encounter any more cops tonight. Come on." They started walking back down the street towards the parking deck.

"Where are we going, 'brother?'"

"Back to my home, so you and my sister, the real Jessica, can tell me about the _Dreamland Chronicles_ , and how that prompted you to steal something from the museum here."

"I didn't know Dreamland had a chronicle," Felicity mused, conveniently ignoring the second part of Jake's statement.

"No, _The Dreamland Chronicles_. I checked online and found out about the books, and the internet comic, too," Jake explained. Felicity just stared blankly back at him. "You've really never heard of the _Dreamland Chronicles_?" he asked.

"No. I don't even know what an internet is," she replied.

"You must be joking. You really don't know about the story that basically explains who you are? The magical world with Alex and the other characters? The elf princess and the rock giant?" Jake asked in amazement. "Then how did you find that costume idea?"

Felicity sighed and shook her head. "Why is this so hard for you to believe? First, we have names. Paddington is the rock giant, and Nastajia is the elf. Second… a story? Seriously?" she went on, the frustration clear on her face. "So you think we're just make-believe characters conjured up for your entertainment?"

"You know, you can cut the roleplaying act any- Ow!" Felicity cuffed Jake's ear.

"Did that feel like make-believe to you, Jake!?" Felicity demanded. "Just look at me! Look at that sheckel. Think about everything you've seen me do tonight. Now, can you honestly tell yourself that this is all made-up?"

Jake looked at Felicity as he rubbed his ear. Something… Something about her reaction as he mentioned the webcomic… Something about the way her eyes seemed to reflect the glow of the streetlight… Something about the way the rain ran through the fur on her face and hands, and her gentle shivers in the cold breeze… Something about the new cat-like scratches on his left ear…

Everyone changes. Some people change gradually over time, slowly morphed by the experiences they endure. Other people change quickly as a result of a single event or realization. People who have made such sudden changes can often point to a specific time or person that prompted the change. For the rest of his life, Jake would be able to look back to that night, seeing Felicity's face there under the streetlight, dripping with rain, as the moment when he decided that perhaps there was more to the world than he'd always known, that he could believe in Dreamland, and believe everything Felicity had said. Just as he'd hoped he could.

Jake looked down at the sheckel coin he was still holding. "So then… kids going to Dreamlands… flying around with Alex and the elf princess… the rock giant and the dragon… and your friend Nicole… it's all true…"

"Yes, yes, YES! That's only what I've been trying to tell you since we met…" Felicity reached up and put her hands on Jake's shoulders as she spoke, looking him in the eyes. "It's ALL true! Alex, Dan and Nicole in your world, me, Nastajia and Paddington in mine. The people, the dragon, the castles, the magic, the monsters, everything."

Jake paused before responding. "But now you're in this world. So are you lost, then?"

"Yeah…kinda." She turned her back to Jake and took a few steps away, staring off down the street, or perhaps staring back at a memory. "I was looking for Nicole. She and I were like sisters when we were kids, when she would visit Dreamland every night, but we got separated about ten years ago. Never heard from each other again. I gave up all hope of ever reuniting. That's…just what happens to childhood friendships in Dreamland. As kids get older, they stop coming. But then I met Alex. He knows Nicole in this world, and helped us write letters to each other. It was…magical, hearing from her again, knowing that she remembered me… learning that she was ok… Eventually, we even tried to bring her into Dreamland using the same magic that Alex uses, but…" Felicity shook her head. "We failed. But not long afterwards, I found an old spell that allows Dreamlanders to enter your world." She turned back to Jake, beaming. "And it worked! I got to spend an afternoon with Nicole. She bought me this outfit so I could fit in a little," she laughed, motioning towards her clothes.

"But then I had to go back to Dreamland. Alex is a king there and needs my help sometimes, so I couldn't be gone long. This was all a few months ago. Next chance I got, I tried the spell again. But this time, instead of appearing right by Nicole, I came out near that building," she pointed at Strahler Hall. "So I went looking for her. I searched all day, and most of the night too, but nothing here is familiar. I was exhausted, and so took a nap once I realized that this wasn't the place I found Nicole the first time. It's colder here. And wetter. And then you found me." It was still raining gently. Felicity's ears twitched occasionally whenever a raindrop came close.

Jake listened intently to her account. He loved reading stories like these, and felt nearly at home with what was happening, despite his initial disbelief. "So why not just go back to Dreamland and try the spell again from there? Or ask someone why the spell didn't work?"

She shook her head. "If I go back to Dreamland and try it again, I'm afraid I'll end up even further away. As for asking someone…" She looked down in embarrassment. "I kinda stole the spell scroll, so I can't ask anyone in Dreamland for help."

"Stole it? So you really are a thief?"

"I can't help it! It's just what I do…"

' _She totally stole that artifact from the museum, too. Cool. I can't wait to tell Jess about this… But one thing doesn't add up.'_ Jake considered the situation thoughtfully before asking, "Where's your tail? You had one in all the comics…unless you lost it in some accident, I guess…"

"Nope. Ole' Long 'n Fluffy is still here," Felicity answered, patting one of the thighs of her cargoes. "Nicole had me put on these baggy things to hide it, so I wouldn't stand out as much."

"That was…well, actually a pretty good idea. It can't be too comfortable, though."

"You have NO idea…" They stood there in silence for a while. Rain continued to splash on the ground around them, and the first low rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance.

"Jake, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why did you come looking for me? You didn't even believe in Dreamland until just now." The rain was starting to pick up.

Jake shrugged. "I was curious what would become of you. And, I just had a feeling that it was the right thing to do. Don't you get those sometimes?" He pulled an arm from the sleeve of his long coat so he could wrap the coat around Felicity as well.

"Yeah, but they're usually suppressed within about four seconds," she laughed. "But… you're not going to give me any trouble for… any souvenirs I may or may not have acquired while in your world, are you?" Felicity asked cautiously. "I don't want to deal with those guards or police any more than I need to."

"No, I'm not going to turn you in. Sorting this all out myself is too good of an adventure to leave to someone else."

Felicity laughed as they started off down the street again, towards the parking garage. "If its adventure you're looking for Jake, trust me, I can lead you to plenty."


	2. Chapter 2 - The Visitor

.

Chapter 2 - The Visitor

-Earth-

Autumn, 2011

Cold raindrops pelted down on the neighborhood as lightening illuminated the street. Half-leafless trees cast brief but eerie shadows on the ground with every flash. Two sopping wet figures darted from a car parked along the road up to one of the homes and stopped on the front porch.

"I bet those cars can go way faster than that," said Felicity as she shook water from her fur. This had been her first experience in an automobile.

Jake was fumbling with the key to open the door. "You're right, but it's not safe in this weather, or in town."

"Well you're no fun," the catgirl quipped.

The door opened, and light from inside bathed the pair in a warm glow. They were also assailed by the smell of dinner being prepared and the sound of a television from somewhere in the house. Jake smiled. "Home sweet home. Welcome. Jess and I live here with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson."

They entered into a small hallway. Felicity felt a pang of envy at Jake for being home with his family on such a cold, wet night, acutely aware that she'd been gone from Dreamland for nearly two days. And still no closer to finding a way to reunite with Nicole. _'So close… so close… We could have seen each other whenever we wanted with that spell. But it was too much to ask… I'll find you someday, Nicole…the closest to family I ever had…'_ she thought as she made a quick scan of her surroundings. _'Stairs going up on my left, and that smell means the kitchen is likely somewhere beyond the door to the right… Mmm, that smells delicious! Front door here is the primary exit, and likely a door at the back, plus windows. Good to know.'_ Growing up as a thief in Dreamland had made such an awareness automatic for her.

"Come on. Let me introduce you to the family," Jake was saying.

Felicity grabbed his arm as he reached for the door to the next room. "Jake, wait. Do I need a cover story? Like when you told that cop that I was your sister in costume?"

"Good point." He thought for a moment. "How about we stick to the truth this time? At least a little. I hate lying to grandma and grandpa. Let's say you were in town looking for Nicole, somehow missed the meeting, and haven't been able to contact her since. Then I had to close the building you were going to meet in and invited you here so you weren't stuck in the rain. True enough, right? That should cover everything."

"Uh, Jake, what about…" she ran a hand along one of her long ears, then pointed to the stripes on her face.

"Oh, right. You're part cat."

"Yeah, just a little," she said with a hint of sarcasm. "Now how can we explain that to someone who's never met a Dreamlander before?"

Jake stopped to think. It was too late to make any preparations or disguise for her, so a believable story would have to do. "Hang on, I'll come up with something"

"Hurry up; I'm hungry," the catgirl demanded. Then she had an idea. "Know what? Let's make this interesting. We're going in. We'll see what happens and make it up as we go." Felicity gave him a gentle shove towards the door. _'He seems pretty bright. I'm sure we can come up with something on the spot if we need,'_ she thought as Jake relented and pushed open the door.

He led her into the living room. An old, balding man with a large belly and full beard sat on the sofa reading a newspaper. The television in front of him was announcing the evening news. "Hi, grandpa," Jake called.

The old man put down his paper and smiled. He glanced briefly at Felicity, his gaze lingering for a moment in wonder, but quickly returned his attention to his grandson. "Hey, Jacob. Welcome home. Get a lot done at school today?"

"Yeah, it was pretty productive. I'll get more done next week." Details like the incident at work could wait until later. He motioned towards his companion. "This is Felicity, a friend from school. Would it be alright if she joined us for dinner?"

Grandpa took off his reading glasses to look at her and hesitated before answering. "It's fine with me, but I'm not the one doing the cooking tonight. Ask your grandmother. She's in the kitchen." He motioned towards the next room.

Felicity followed Jake into the kitchen as Grandpa Anderson went back to reading his paper after a final curious look at the visitor. In the kitchen, an elderly woman with gray-streaked black hair and glasses stood over the stove stirring a pot of instant mashed-potato mix. Jake repeated much of the brief conversation he'd had with his grandfather. "Do you mind if Felicity stays for dinner?"

"Not at all, dear. It's so rare for you or your sister to have friends over, so of course she's welcome." Grandma Anderson smiled at the pair, then noticed the small puddle of water from their rain-soaked clothes that had begun to form on the floor beneath them. "Goodness, it looks like you two were caught out in the storm. Why don't you go dry off before everything's ready? I'm sure Jessica has some clothes you could borrow, Felicity."

Felicity nodded in silent thanks.

They headed towards the stairs just off the hallway where they'd entered the house. Grandpa Anderson didn't even look up from his papers as they passed through the living room that time.

"Do you always rush in to things like that?" Jake asked, slightly frustrated, after they'd left the living room.

"Hey, I'm just trying to make your life interesting," Felicity waved off the complaint, then continued, "I'm kinda curious: why didn't they notice that I'm not human?"

"Grandma and grandpa are pretty open-minded people. They're probably curious, but too polite to bring up something like that directly," Jake said as they got back to the front hallway. "And hiding your tail helped too, I think. Since it's Halloween soon, I bet they assumed you're wearing a costume."

"Again with the costume! Is it that hard for people here to accept that I'm real?"

Jake shrugged. "A lot of people only believe what makes sense to them. Now let's see how my sister takes this. She may be in the basement – I'll check there, then meet you upstairs in a moment. When you get up there, please don't touch anything. We can relax a bit after dinner."

"Good. My tail is killing me right now. And I haven't eaten since I left Dreamland. Stealing food in your world is a lot harder than in mine."

Jake paused, then sighed. "I guess we'll need to get used to that…" He was still adjusting to the fact that she was a professional thief in her world.

Felicity just grinned in reply, then headed up the stairs. The first few steps creaked, but she soon found the right balance and walking pattern to ascend the rest noiselessly. She peered through the keyhole in the door at the top of the stairs, and after seeing only darkness, slowly opened it.

The dimly lit room beyond was filled with beakers, bottles, gears, tools, rock samples, scraps of wood, paints, and a host of machines and gadgets for which she could not guess the purpose, spread over several tables. It was clear that this was some sort of lab or workshop. Felicity carefully made her way through the room, desperately fighting the urge to fiddle with anything.

Her resistance did not last long as she stopped to examine a balance that was suspending several beakers of blue liquid over an open flame. She picked up what appeared to be an average gray rock from a pile of them on the other end of a balance, studied it, and noticed glittering metallic angles protruding from the stone. _'Gold! Why would Jake have… never mind. They won't miss just one.'_ Felicity pocketed the sample and quietly continued her way across the room. She had just stopped to examine another machine when a loud voice made her freeze.

"DON'T. TOUCH. ANYTHING!" The booming command was coming from behind Felicity. She slowly stood up and turned. A woman slightly younger than her stood there, arms crossed. She had short yellow hair and glasses, was wearing a white lab coat with goggles loose around her neck, and appeared most unhappy.

Just then, something on the table started to produce a shrill beeping noise. "You touched my balance stones, didn't you?" the girl asked accusingly as she rushed over to the balance to disable the burner underneath the flasks of bubbling liquid.

"No! Nothing! Honest!" Felicity held up her hands in a feigned display of innocence.

"This is felsic acid," explained the new girl as she picked up the beaker of blue bubbling substance. "It can dissolve silicate rocks. Just image what it could do to your skin if it spilled!" She began transferring the material into several waiting test tubes.

' _What did Jake get me into by sending me up here? This place is dangerous… But there's so much shiny stuff, too!'_ Felicity thought before asking, "What do you do with all this?"

"Science. And just who are you, by the way?" she replied, quickly shifting the conversation.

"Felicity, a friend of Jake's. He sent me up here while he went to find Jessica."

"Well, you found her first." With the acid safely under control, Jessica took a moment to study the tiger-striped intruder in her lab. "I can count Jake's friends on one hand, and the number of them with fur, stripes and long ears is exactly zero. How do you know my brother?"

"We happened to run into each other today."

"There's got to be more to it than that. Catpeople don't just walk around University City."

"This one does," Felicity smiled reassuringly. "Besides, your brother was pretty helpful earlier. I'd have been stuck out in the rain dodging security guards all night if it hadn't been for him."

Jess continued her suspicious observation of the newcomer as the door to the stairs opened and Jake entered the room. Without turning her attention from Felicity, she addressed her brother. "Really Jake? You couldn't have texted me ahead of time that you were bringing home a real catperson? I might have cleaned this place up a bit," she complained, though her initial suspicion was turning into wonder as she began to understand the true nature of their guest.

"I was going to, but… Wait, why do you think that's what she really is?" Jake asked skeptically. "Don't you think she's just in costume? It IS Halloween pretty soon…"

"People who would dress like that are not the kind of people who would hang out with you, Jake" Jess explained.

' _Hey, we've got a believer!'_ thought Felicity. "So you don't think I'm an imaginary character or anything like that, Jess? You don't find anything strange about having someone from a magical world called Dreamland in your house?"

"Perhaps. But you're standing here in the middle of my lab, talking to me. That's reason enough to treat you like you're real." Jess shrugged. "Besides, life's better if you believe in the magic. If I wake up at some point in the next few minutes, then this will have been a pleasant dream. If I don't, all the better."

"See? She gets it!" Felicity said to Jake, as if punctuating a victory from a previous argument.

"Excellent. That means you're her problem now."

"Wait, Jake, that's not-" Jess started to protest.

Jake cut her off. "Grandma's going to have dinner ready in about…" He glanced at the clock on the wall. "…two minutes, and Felicity and I need to find some dry clothes. Can you help her with that? You two are about the same height and…stuff."

Jess glared at her brother for a second over the interruption, then cordially addressed their guest. "Right this way, Felicity." She led the catgirl down the hallway and through a door on the left as Jake made his way to his own room. Jess's room contained a mattress in one corner, a desk cluttered with papers in another, and piles of clothes and other assorted objects scattered across the floor. "So you're from a place called Dreamland? What's it like?" asked Jess as she began to rummage through one of the stacks of clothes. The piles seemed approximately organized by color.

"Where to begin?" Felicity leaned in the doorframe and closed her eyes. "There's the capital city, Astoria, where I grew up. It has great stone gates and walls, markets, and a giant tower in the middle, over five hundred feet high. Airships sail between Astoria and the other kingdoms in Dreamland, like the elf city of Ashendel, or Hilmdel, a dwarf stronghold in the mountains. Merfolk live in the Eastern Sea, and centaurs roam the Aethos Plains in the north." She opened her eyes to find Jess staring at her, enchanted.

"Wow… but why is it called Dreamland?" she asked eagerly, forgetting her search for the moment.

"Because Dreamland is the place humans go when they dream."

"So people from Earth can go to Dreamland?" Jess asked excitedly as she finally selected a black t-shirt and moved on to another pile. "How? Can you show me?"

The catgirl laughed. "Sorry sport, children only. Kids visit Dreamland when they dream, so the only humans there are, like, twelve or younger."

"Awww… But how did you get out? Are there a lot of Dreamlanders walking around Earth? Is there a portal or something?"

"No portal, or none that I've ever heard of. I just found a spell that let me cross over, so I used it to visit my best friend from when I was a kid."

"So you can use magic?" Jess asked excitedly. "What other spells can you do?"

She shook her head. "Not much else. Anyone can do magic if you have the instructions right in front of you. But memorizing spells is too boring for me. I just took this one so I could get to Earth."

"Right, to visit your friend. So does she live around here?"

"No," Felicity replied sadly. "This was my second time using the spell. I was able to reach her a few weeks ago, but it must have miscast or something this time. I have no idea where she is, or where I am now for that matter…"

"Awww, that's so sad…" Jess resumed her search and eventually produced an old pair of blue jeans for the visitor. "Actually, this is kinda weird. I bought Jake some books a few weeks ago. It was just on a whim when I was at the bookstore. _The Dreamland Tales_ or something like that. It sounds a lot like your world. I remember the name Ashendel, and pictures of centaurs on the advert. Think there could be a connection? Maybe it can help you find your friend."

Felicity nodded. "I hope so. Jake mentioned them. _The Dreamland Chronicles_ , he said they were called. I didn't know stories from my world were being told like that on Earth, but I'm curious to see what they say." She thought for a second before adding, "What does Jake like about those kinds of stories?"

"Jake's always dreamed of traveling," Jess explained. "Seeing distant lands and different cultures… But he's never had the opportunity. So I think devouring the backstory of every fantasy series he can find kinda fills that void for him. Learning about other lands and peoples – real or fictional – is just what he's passionate about. But…" she sighed. "It's probably escapism, too. Reading about adventures and far-off places helps take his mind off his boring job and dull graduate studies."

"If he's so bored, why does he keep doing those things?"

"Because it's what he's good at. That's how Jake thinks you get ahead in this world," Jess answered sadly. "Doing what you're good at, even if you don't like it."

"Ok, if he's not happy with it, he should rethink this whole 'getting ahead' thing," Felicity replied, shaking her head.

Jess laughed. "If you can convince my brother of that, he'll love you forever. I think he kinda senses it, but just needs the lesson whacked into him or something." Jess turned to another pile. "I haven't read those _Dreamland_ books, and I don't think he has yet either. After dinner, we can spend some hours reading through a few chapters."

"Awesome! And what about you?" Felicity asked. "Do you also read fantasy stories?"

"Yeah, but mostly for the dashing knights and dreamy heroes." She motioned around the room to the numerous posters of well-muscled actors and characters.

Felicity smiled. "That's a motive I can respect!" They high-fived with a laugh.

"Here." Jess tossed the shirt, jeans and a black hoodie she'd just discovered to Felicity. "You can change in the bathroom. I'll wait for you by the stairs."

Felicity changed quickly, taking only a few moments to flex her tail. Two days confined in the cargoes Nicole had bought as a gift on her first visit had left it numb. She considered all that had happened in the last few hours, and her new acquaintances. _'Jake and Jess. Their parents must have like J. But where are their parents? I'll need to ask about that,'_ she thought as she draped the damp clothes on a rack in the bathroom. _'I need to make sure to get those back. Every little bit to remember Nicole by…'_ She met up with the siblings at the top of the stairs.

Before any of them could speak, a loud call from Grandma Anderson echoed from below. "Dinner!"

As they headed for the kitchen, Jake turned to Felicity. "I should have brought this up earlier. Keep with the story we used before, and don't mention Dreamland – we don't want to have to explain that. Also, biology. What exactly do you eat?"

"Um…food?"

Jess laughed. "You'll fit right in here, Felicity!"

Jake was more serious. "It's a legitimate concern. Meats? Fruits? Vegetables? Chocolates? Is there anything the humans in Dreamland eat that you don't? Or can't?"

She shook her head. "I'm a catgirl, not a cat. Besides, I grew up on the streets in Dreamland. Can't afford to be a picky eater when you can't afford food too often," she explained as they entered the kitchen. An additional place at the table had been set. Grandma and Grandpa were already seated at the table with full plates in front of them, talking quietly. Several steaming platters lined a nearby counter.

Jake handed Felicity the plate from the extra space. "We usually treat dinner like a smorgasbord. Take as much as you want now, then help yourself to seconds," he explained. The three filled their plates, took their spots around the table, and began eating along with the grandparents once they were all seated.

They ate in silence for a while. Grandma Anderson was the first to speak. "Tell me, Felicity: you're a friend of Jake's? He hasn't mentioned you before."

Felicity answered around a mouthful of food, "We just met today, actually. Ran into each other, and started talking."

Grandma Anderson looked to Jake, who nodded. "She's in town to visit a friend, but missed their connection. I found her napping in the office building at school when I was closing it up, and with security tight for visitors because of the robbery last night, I thought it best to see that she didn't run into trouble with campus police."

"Well that was kind of you, Jacob. So you're from out of town, dear?" Grandma Anderson asked Felicity.

"Yeah, I'm originally from Astoria in-" she began.

"It's near Boston." Jess interrupted, then looked to Jake to take over. They'd had to tag-team cover stories before, though none for an occasion as unique as this.

He continued the cover story for Felicity as she took another bite of pork chop. "She works in acting and theater. Scheduling was tight after her traveling performance this morning in Chicago, so she came directly to University City after the show to see her friend."

"Oh, it's so sad that you missed her after rushing all the way out here from the city. Well, I hope you get a chance to see her again soon," Grandma Anderson said.

' _Me too, grandma. More than you know…,'_ Felicity thought as she nodded in agreement.

"What kind of acting do you do?" asked Grandpa Anderson. He had been focusing intently on his pork chop, biscuit and mashed potatoes, and with those largely gone, was ready to enter the conversation.

"Uh…fairy tales, mostly. Magic, dragons, elves… Stuff for kids."

"So that's what all the make-up and costume is for?" he asked, pointing to her long armbands. "It sure held up well in the rain."

"Yeah, it's almost as if it's real," she said as she noticed Jake suppressing a brief smile. _'You win this round, Jake. As far as everyone here is concerned, I guess it is just a costume...'_

"I thought it was an intricate tattoo," Grandpa Anderson continued.

"That'd be cool! I'd love to get a tattoo like that…" Jess said.

Her grandmother shook her head. "We've discussed this, young lady. Not while you're living under my roof."

"Ha, 'young lady.' I'm nearly 19! That's practically ancient!" she exclaimed. But it was clear from their expressions that they'd had battles like this a thousand times, and equally clear how it always ended.

"Nearly 19 and still living with grandparents," Jake added quietly.

"At least I'm not the one who's 24 and living with my grandparents," she shot back.

"Meh. Since the Recession, the average move-out age is up to 31," he explained calmly, then smiled and added, "So you're stuck with us for a little while longer, grandma and grandpa."

Grandpa Anderson laughed. "You both chose to enroll in the local university, so it only makes economic sense to rent your rooms here, especially when your parents divorced and moved to opposite sides of the country." He turned his attention back to their guest. "I can't image that the theater business has been unscathed in these hard times. Has your family been helping you out as well?"

Felicity looked down at her half eaten meal. "I never knew my parents. I grew up on the streets, mostly with other kids."

"Oh, my poor dear. You certainly must be proud of yourself to have made it so far on your own," said Grandma Anderson

"Well, I've had some help along the way. There have been hard times, but I guess things have been better recently." It wasn't often that she considered how far she'd come in the last few years. _'Seeing Nicole and helping Alex and Nastajia is definitely an improvement over thieving, jail and… working for that snake.'_ She shuddered to herself at the thought of the years she'd spent as a captive and occasionally an unwilling but effective servant of Nicodemus, the old dragon lord of Dreamland. _'How far I've come indeed.'_

She pushed her own past from her mind and turned her attention to Jessica. "That's a lot of fancy stuff in that lab upstairs, kid. Were'd you get it?"

"Most of it is used, discarded by the university, some of it Jake and I made, and some I saved for and bought," Jess answered.

"She's been a scientist since she got a children's chemistry set for her 8th birthday," her grandfather explained. "Ever since then, she's just eaten up anything related to physics, geology, or chemistry."

Grandma Anderson put her hand on Jess's arm and added, "Now if only her test marks at the university were as good as her experiments here," she said, smiling.

Jess blushed. "If they're going to waste my time with simple stuff like explanations of basic molecular structure, why bother?"

"Maybe because those classes are prerequisites for the advanced classes where you'll excel?" Jake answered.

"That's a stupid system!"

"But it IS the system. We don't have to like it," he continued. "Just have to deal with it."

Jess rolled her eyes, then turned to Felicity. "I honestly still have no idea where I want to go with this. It's not like the experiments I do around here have any consistent focus or anything. I just get interested in a subject and delve into it until the next interest comes up." She took a bite of potatoes before continuing. "This month, I'm studying acids that can dissolve certain rocks. The school's been paying me a bit to help out with research and tutoring, and I still work part-time at a dairy in town, but…"

"But it doesn't make up for your grades," her brother finished. Jess nodded.

"What about you?" Felicity asked him. "On the way here, you said you liked history because of the stories. So are you a writer?"

Jake shrugged. "I'm in the same boat as Jess. I've found something I can do, but haven't figured out how to make a living from it. Academic history is not near as exciting as reading stories of history. All they teach you in school about the practice is research and writing, then they expect you to form arguments about really obscure points, since all the fun topics have already been well covered. So that's all the work I can get now. Digging through data and records, then writing about what I find."

Grandpa Anderson shook his head. "History, politics, geography…you've still learned a great deal, Jacob," he pointed out. "How many people do you know who can discuss Midwestern Native American settlements, international governance structures, and label a world map all from memory? And your grades have been high enough to maintain that full scholarship. You've got a future, even if it's taking you longer than some people to find it."

"Yeah, a future behind a desk, staring at a computer screen from nine to five for five days a week," he replied glumly.

' _That sounds terrible,'_ thought Felicity. _'He seems pretty smart, but bored here. No wonder he talked so much about wanting an adventure. And Jess is just the opposite – she seems to get the most out of every day, but can't plan ahead.'_

"Speaking of history," Grandma Anderson continued, "that was quite an important artifact stolen from the university last night, wasn't it Jake? Where did they find it again?"

Felicity shot Jake a careful glance. _'Remember Jake, you promised…'_

He pretended not to notice as he responded to his grandmother. "Cahokia Ruins, near St. Louis. I think it was some kind of charm or leadership symbol. Remember, Aunt Stephanie was part of the dig team working there when they found it?"

"Ah, yes. That's right," Grandma Anderson replied. "My, my, what a shame that a heartless thief would steal such an ancient artifact, isn't it?" she asked, looking directly at Felicity.

"Oh, yeah. Very terrible… I can't imagine who would do such a thing…" she replied, focusing intently on her remaining mashed potatoes.

Her lack of sincerity went unnoticed by the grandparents, though Jess caught it. Her eyes widened slightly as she gave Jake a questioning look while their grandmother continued to converse with Felicity. He briefly touched a finger to his lips. Jess nodded and continued eating.

Grandma Anderson soon changed the subject, much to Felicity's relief. "Tell me, dear. What does your friend do here in town? Is she a student?"

"Yeah. Her name's Nicole. She studies sleep and dreams at the university."

"In the psychology department," Jake added. "Sleep patterns, brain analysis, stuff like that. They were really close when they were younger, but fell out of contact when Nicole's family moved out here from New England. They recently reunited through a common friend."

' _Jake's doing a good job keeping one foot in the truth,'_ Felicity observed to herself before continuing, "I missed her so much over the years. Finding her again was…like magic."

"Have you tried setting up a meeting with her for tomorrow?" the grandmother suggested.

Jake answered for her, "We're going to do that after dinner. Speaking of which…" He stood up from the table, empty plate in hand, and began collecting the other empty dishes.

"Just leave them for us, dear," his grandmother said as she stood and took the stack of plates from him. "With your grandfather and I gone for the next few weeks, you'll have plenty of chances to wash dishes. Besides, I need to pay him back for splashing me while cleaning up from breakfast," she added slyly.

Jess looked surprised. "You're leaving? When? Where?"

"They're plane leaves tomorrow at noon, weather permitting," Jake explained. "They'll be in Texas for a few months at the winter home. It's how they're spending our rent money this year. Remember going there for spring break a few years back?"

"Oh, right. That." Jess replied. "Sorry, I just-"

Her grandmother cut in, "Have the awareness of a blind clam sometimes, oblivious to what's going on around you. It's ok, dear. We love you anyway," she said as she stood behind Jess, patting her on the shoulder. "Honestly, if this winter turns out to be as bad as they're saying it will, you two should consider coming down, too. The weatherman said it might even snow tonight, and it's still October!"

Jake shook his head. "Thanks, but I'd pick Illinois any day. We can deal with a bit of snow. By the way, do you need a ride to O'Hare? I could be up early if you need…"

"No, no. The airport is sending a taxi for us at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. I assume you will all be sleeping in tomorrow, so we probably won't see you then."

Jake, Jess and Felicity thanked the grandparents for the meal and wished them a safe trip, then excused themselves from the kitchen and retreated towards the upstairs. Jess took the lead.

She stopped them when they got to the hallway, out of earshot of their grandparents. "You know something about that stolen artifact, don't you?" she asked Felicity, though the question sounded more like praise than an accusation.

"Not a thing," she replied, visibly inspecting her fingernails. Their sharp similarity to cat's claws was painfully evident as they gleamed in the hallway light. "Isn't that right Jake?"

The implication was less than subtle. "What artifact?" he answered with a smile, brushing off the threat before continuing, "I hope you were taking notes at dinner. If for any reason we need to explain who you are to anyone again, we'll need the story to be consistent."

' _He must have this all planned out now,'_ she thought. "Definitely. Thanks a million for helping me out there, guys." The trio resumed their journey up the stairs.

"Don't worry, it was for our benefit, too. Grandma and grandpa are great people, but I'm not sure how they would have reacted to learning that you're from Dreamland and not actually a human. They would have thought we'd gone insane or something," Jake said.

They reached the second floor and filed into Jake's room, which doubled as a meeting space, complete with table and chairs. The walls of his room were almost entirely lined from floor to ceiling with books, neatly organized, which he started to search through as Jess and Felicity stopped at the table.

"Wait here. I have something for you," Jess said to their guest before disappearing back to her room.

Felicity glanced at Jake, who just shook his head as he continued to search the bookshelves. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Jess was back a moment later with another pair of jeans. "Here. Just go try these on. Trust me."

Felicity shrugged, took the jeans and left the room.

Jake waited a few moments before wondering out loud how the new jeans were different from what she had before. "Why did you-" he began.

"FINALLY!" A cry from the next room stopped him mid-sentence.

Jess laughed as Felicity returned to them a moment later in the new attire, followed by just over four feet of orange and black-striped tail. "It's that old pair with the hole in the back. No idea why I kept it, but I'm glad I did," Jess explained to her brother. "I knew something wasn't right since I met her, but it didn't hit me until I saw her claws downstairs: every cat has a tail!"

"Free at last! Woo-Hoo!" Felicity jumped around the room several times, swishing her tail in every direction, bringing it back to normal functionality after two days of keeping it hidden. She stopped by the chair where Jess was sitting and gave her a great hug from behind.

"Thank you so much! And I love the color – it goes well with my fur," she said before sitting down. Felicity held the end of her tail to her cheek and closed her eyes. "This feels so good! I never thought I'd ever have to hide my tail like that for so long."

Jess nodded in agreement. "I broke my arm in elementary school and had it in a cast for a few weeks. Not fun when you can't move a limb like that. I thought this might be similar."

Jake remained silent through the entire exchange. Felicity had mentioned her tail back on campus and again when they arrived at the house, but he had thought little of it. While her ears and fur could pass for acting make-up or tattoos, this truly marked her as something other than human. He could not tear his eyes from it.

Felicity noticed, and winked at him. "Checking out my tail, Jake? What do you think?"

"Exquisite," he muttered, turning back to the shelves in some embarrassment. Jess and Felicity laughed together. "But we have other 'tales' besides that one to worry about," Jake continued as he went on searching for _The Dreamland Chronicles_.

' _Oh, bad joke! But, he's a blusher. How cute,'_ Felicity thought. _'I'm going to miss these people when I leave… Still, it's good to have contacts in two worlds. Never know when I might end up back here…looking for Nicole.'_ The stray reminder of why she'd come to Earth in the first place made her realize how similar her new friends were to the other humans she knew. "You guys should meet Nicole. I think you'd get along."

"Is Nicole the friend you were talking about before dinner?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. I don't think she's really around here, though. The town I was in when I visited a few months ago was warmer and hillier. This place is so flat and cold, it must be different."

"Flat and cold describes the Midwest perfectly for most of the year. But it can get really hot in the summer – I think you'd remember that. However, I know the East Coast had milder weather this summer, and they have more hills. If that's where she's from, then you missed by about a thousand miles," Jake explained from the bookcase where he was still searching. "Or possibly the west coast. Then it's two thousand."

Felicity groaned in frustration. "Why does your world have to be so big?" she complained.

Jake pressed for more information as he continued to skim the shelves. "What else do you remember about where you met her? Town or street names? University name? Newspaper names? Accents?"

"Not much. We didn't run into anyone else, and I guess she talks about the same as you two. That was the first time Nicole and I had seen each other in, like, ten years. I was just so focused on getting caught up with her and all that she's been doing that I didn't really pay attention to anything else." She thought for a moment, and added wistfully, "I can't wait to see her again."

"Hopefully _The Dreamland Chronicles_ will tell us a bit more," Jess said as Jake finally brought a stack of new, shrink-wrapped books over to the table. He handed the first of the five volumes to Jess, and placed the second on the table in front of Felicity. "Do you know them?" asked Jess when she noticed Felicity inspecting the figures in the cover art.

She replied as if snapped out of a deep thought. "Huh? Oh, yeah. It's just too weird seeing people I know in books. This is Alex," she said, pointing to a picture of a young man in blue armor. "Animated, of course. He's got a magic sword pendant that he wears when he sleeps. It lets him go to Dreamland, even though he's grown up. Well, 'grown up' might be overstating it sometimes. But usually only kids can go between worlds like that."

Jake pulled out the Dreamland sheckel coin from earlier and compared its image to the second figure on the front cover: a large red dragon. "So that must be Nicodemus?" he guessed.

Felicity nodded. "He was the king of Dreamland until just a few a months ago."

Jess set down the volume she'd been studying. "What happened?"

"He was a tyrant, so we fought a war and overthrew him."

"That happens on Earth sometimes," Jake said, "But not with dragons."

"Yeah, Nicole mentioned that. Nicodemus had ruled as long as anyone could remember. But Alex is the king now. That magic sword has a role in determining who the rightful king of Dreamland will be, and it ended up with Alex. But, there's a bit of confusion about who should really be king since Alex has a twin brother, Dan. No one knows what's going to happen next," Felicity explained while inspecting the book. She turned it over and found a familiar face on the back cover. "Yippee! I'm famous!" She pumped her fist in the air in triumph. "See? It's me!"

Sure enough, a picture of Felicity graced the back of the second volume. She deftly slit the plastic shrink-wrap with a claw while Jess violently tore the wrapping from the first volume. Jake produced a pocketknife to cleanly open the other books.

"Let's start with the first one," he said. "Can you tell us who these people are on the cover? One looks like Alex without the armor."

"Yep, that's right. The other one is Nastajia, princess of the elves," Felicity studied the image for a moment, then laughed. "Nastajia would have a fit if she knew all our adventures were so widely known like this in Alex's world." She turned to the back cover of the first book and found more of her friends from Dreamland.

"That guy looks like an eroded felsic rock formation," Jess observed after studying one of the characters pictured there. "Lighter color, so probably a higher amount of silicate materials."

"I have no idea what any of that meant. But his name is Paddington," answered Felicity. "He's a rock giant, and happens to be the most famous dancer in Dreamland." She held up a hand as Jess was about to speak. "It's…a long story. And the little fairy in the corner up there is Kiwi."

"Kiwi looked tiny in the pages I saw online earlier. How big she is in person?" Jake wondered.

Felicity spread her hands about seven inches apart. "She is pretty small, but not all fairies are. Two feet tall is about normal, four feet is not uncommon. And, some can be as small as Kiwi."

"Your world sounds fascinating…" Jess glanced at the other books. "There are so many other characters – I mean, other people. We should focus on the first book for now," she said, looking at a picture of a green-haired warrior armed with a mace on the back of one of the other volumes. "I'm sure it's all explained here exactly who these people are. And better than asking Felicity about each of these guys one at a time."

"Yeah…" Jake answered, sounding distracted.

"Something on your mind?" his sister asked, recognizing his tone.

He hesitated before answering. "If all these stories from Dreamland are available in books here on Earth, someone from Earth had to have written them."

They were all silent for a moment.

"Of course someone wrote them," Jess said eventually, picking up the first volume. "S. C. S., according to the author notes here. First volume published in 2008. So what?"

"My point is, everyone who has read this before thought it was just a story, but Felicity proves that it's all true. This means someone else has access to Dreamland, someone who knows Felicity and her friends. But who?"

"Could it be some kid visiting Dreamland at night? Maybe this S. C. S. person is really a child…" Jess wondered.

Felicity shook her head after a moment of thought. "We haven't spent much time with kids. The war against Nicodemus has been…not a kid-friendly environment. It has to be Alex. No one else can get between worlds and know everything we've been doing. Which means that Alex or his brother Dan-"

"Know S. C. S. and are passing the story on to him to write," Jake concluded. "Jess, what did you say was the publication date?"

"2008."

"So the stories from Dreamland have been around at least that long. How long ago in Dreamland did you meet Alex, Felicity?"

"It's been a few years." She looked again at the five books spread across the table. "So much has happened… There's no way it can all be in just five books like this. I wonder what was left out…" The siblings had no answer for her.

They sat in silence for a while. Though they'd had dinner with an inhabitant of Dreamland, the prospect of opening a door into the other world's past was still fanciful to Jake and Jess.

Jess broke the silence. "Everything looks so clean and crisp. Is this really what Dreamland looks like?" she asked after examining the cover of the book.

Felicity looked at the cover again. "Cleaner than your world, but I think they did touch up these pictures a lot. This looks more like artwork. We do a lot of traveling, and I think I've only seen Nastajia that shiny in her castle at Ashendel. But that's what she really looks like otherwise. Or as close as the art will allow, I guess. They must have drawn all this somehow, not using those photograph things Nicole showed me."

Jake looked at the picture she was indicating on the book. "This is definitely computer generated. That means it was created using one of those," he pointed to the green laptop on a nearby desk. "But if you say it looks accurate, S. C. S. must have had some pretty good accounts of Dreamland from Alex to get this kind of detail."

"That doesn't sound like Alex at all," Felicity replied skeptically. Though she maintained her upbeat attitude, Felicity was becoming unsettled as she suddenly realized what details of her life might be revealed in the literature. _'Why didn't I realize this earlier? Please books, don't mention my work with Nicodemus… don't let the Hilmdel encounter be in there… Jake and Jess haven't known me long enough to understand…'_

"Perhaps Alex isn't working alone, then?" Jake was saying. "There must be more to it..."

"I bet there is, hon. And as your sister said, it's probably all written in these books," Felicity answered as she hesitantly opened the first volume to the first page. _'Too late, now. Let's just go with it and see what happens.'_

Jake and Jess pulled their chairs close to either side of Felicity as she began to read aloud.


	3. Chapter 3 - Homeward

.

Chapter 3 - Homeward

-Earth-

Autumn, 2011

The clock in the hallway chimed twice. Jake was sitting at the table in his room, warming his hands on a cup of coffee, while Felicity lay on the bed nearby, tossing the silver and green pendant from the museum into the air and deftly catching it without a sound. Jess had gone in search of more caffeine-laced beverages. They had all taken turns reading and had made it through the first two volumes of _The Dreamland Chronicles_.

From the comics, Jake and Jess had learned of Alex's unexpected return to Dreamland after an eight-year absence, thanks to the power of the magical sword he'd found there as a child. The sword manifested itself on Earth as a necklace. If he fell asleep wearing the necklace, Alex appeared in Dreamland. Soon after returning, he reunited with his childhood friends: Kiwi the fairy, Paddington, a rock giant, and Nastajia Ashenhart, princess of the Dreamland elves.

Alex and Nastajia picked up their relationship where it had left off eight years before as the party began a quest to find the princess's parents, who had disappeared two years prior to Alex's return. Their only lead was a series of legendary stone tablets her parents had been seeking. Scattered across Dreamland, each was etched with a tale from Dreamland's past. The search brought Alex and his friends into conflict with the evil dragon king Nicodemus. Nicodemus bore a strong hatred for the human children who visited Dreamland every night, and was striving to remove any reference to humans from Dreamland's history, especially any mention of a human as the king of Dreamland. Felicity had joined Alex after helping him escape from Nicodemus's prison in Astoria, the capital city.

Their search for the stone tablets took them to the merfolk kingdom of Naroobi, where they fought a deadly kraken, but also found one of the tablets. The party returned to the elven city of Ashendel to research their findings. The second book ended with the dragon's pirate mercenaries attacking Kiwi's home city of Gardenia in search of human children to expel, and a decision by Alex and the others to intervene.

Felicity had been flipping through the later books while Jess finished reading the second, and rather than continue reading, she quickly outlined what had since happened in Dreamland from memory. "We defeated the mercenaries at the Battle of Gardenia, fought Nicodemus and his hordes of Nightmare Realm denizens in several smaller skirmishes, and eventually laid siege to his capital in Astoria to force him out of power. He disappeared during the battle. Now, Alex is assisting Nastajia in the search for the remaining stone tablets and her parents. I was helping out with that when I left," she had explained.

The king and queen of elves had been seeking a secretive race of winged people known as the Guardians, who were rumored to have one of the tablets, when Felicity decided to attempt the journey to Earth. She stole an ancient spell from the centaur Orion, an advisor and ally to Alex and Nastajia, and unbeknownst to the others, succeeded in reaching Earth while the rest of the party continued searching for the Guardian's sky city of Seraphopolis. The search was still ongoing when she decided to revisit Earth to see Nicole again.

"So why'd you take it?" Jake asked cautiously, pointing to the artifact Felicity was tossing about.

"Pretty, shiny, floaty, thing. Remember? I saw it, I liked it, I wanted it, I took it," she explained, casting the object into the air again and snatching it just as it reached its peak. "This thing was sitting right in front of my when I appeared here, so…"

Jess had started falling asleep mid-sentence. Her exit gave Jake a chance to bring up the artifact from the museum. Felicity was just relieved that they had stopped reading the books when they had, before the story revealed the unsavory details of her past as an agent of the dragon king.

"So you don't take things like that because they're valuable, but because you like them?" Jake had been unsure about bringing up the matter of the artifact, but was still not at all surprised when Felicity happily produced the item from one of her pockets.

"Yeah, pretty much. I had to take stuff when I was younger, you know, like for food. But after that… I guess there's just a certain thrill to it. It's like an art. You develop skills, use certain techniques, and when you do it well, BAM! Payoff." She stood up, pocketed the pendant, and began to slowly walk around the room, studying the contents of the shelves. "Besides, I don't even keep what I steal most of the time."

Jake looked disappointed. "So it's not some magic device made by ancient peoples to open a portal to Dreamland that you were sent here to retrieve?"

"Sorry, hon. Just something I thought looked interesting. Like this," she said, picking up a hat with several shiny pins from a hook on the wall. "What are these?" she asked.

Jake walked over to her. "Journey pins, I call them. I collect them from the places I visit or to mark memorable events. It's kind of a hobby."

There were about a dozen pins on the hat. "This one looks like a key. What's it for?" Felicity asked, pointing to one of the pins.

He hesitated before answering. "I got that one last winter at an antique store in Maryland. That's… far to the east of here. My two best friends moved out there and got married, so it's kind of a reminder of the trip. And how great things were before they left."

She looked at him, disgusted. "So your friends ran off together leaving you stuck in this cold place? Some friends…"

Jake sighed. "They're doing what they want with life. I can't blame them for that."

Felicity recalled her conversation with Jess before dinner. "Are _you_ doing what you want with life?" She asked, twirling the hat on her hand.

"Kind of." Jake pointed to the hat. "Count the pins. I've made a few memories over the years."

"And the rest of the time in all those years?" Jake didn't answer, looking away towards the window instead. Felicity went on, determined to make her point. "No, listen. You were complaining earlier about how boring your work and studies are. Well, find more small adventures in your everyday life. They're all around you – look at the stars, throw a rock in a stream, ask a stranger how his day is going. Don't be afraid to jump into something without a plan. Interesting and unexpected things can happen." She looked back at the hat she was holding. "But just enduring one day after another with a few bright spots every now and then hardly seems like the way to live."

Jake shrugged as he considered the advice. "Meh. The work pays. And besides, the contrast of a mundane job makes those few special times that much more memorable," he countered, though even he realized how weak that rationale was.

"Sure…" Felicity rolled her eyes. "Do you even believe that? Make your own excitement whenever you can. Adventures don't always have to be big, ya know. Besides, I find that it's the company that makes the memories, not just what you do or where you go." She smiled at Jake and pointed to a golden dagger pin on the hat. "I like this one."

"When you go to Yellowknife, then you can get one, too." He took the hat from the catgirl and placed it back on the shelf, then changed the subject away from his own issues. "If you have time, maybe you can explore Earth a bit with Nicole, once you find her."

"That's one option," Felicity mused, satisfied that they'd gotten her message across. "Alex probably won't be back in Dreamland for a few weeks or more. Then we're just going to be searching for the lost sky city."

"A few weeks?" Jake asked, surprised. "Alex returned every night in the books. Is that not the case?"

"No. We've gone weeks without seeing him. He's rarely there two nights in a row, so every time he comes back, it's kind of a big deal." She walked back over to the table in the center of the room and flipped through the second book. "I didn't want to keep interrupting the story to point this out every time, but they're just highlighting the important events here in the comic, telling it like a children's story I think. But there was so much more that happened. Kind of 'in between the lines' of what's being said here. That makes sense, though – there was a lot going on, and they just can't explain it all. Not in the detail it deserves, anyway."

Jake looked at her questioningly. "So the books aren't accurate? Historically? What's being left out? What's incorrect?" He had thought the books might be primary accounts rather than stories. But there was apparently much more to Dreamland than the books revealed.

"Wellllllll…" Felicity flipped through the second volume, marking several pages with her fingers. "They aren't exactly wrong, just simplifying things, not explaining every detail. Like this." She opened to the page early in the story showing Alex being dragged off to the jails below Astoria by Nicodemus's henchmen. "Alex and I were in jail for about a month before escaping. It was another month before we could get in to rescue Kiwi when she was captured, and another two months after that trying to sneak out of the city while Nicodemus's henchmen searched for us. It was only when we were discovered that we ended up in that dramatic chase it shows in the book. But the story covers it all in two Earth nights of dreaming for Alex. And after that, it seems like every battle we fought with Nicodemus has been condensed into these tiny skirmishes with just us and the dragon," she explained, indicating the third book she had been studying earlier.

"So you spent months hiding out in Astoria, waiting for a chance to escape?"

"Yeah. We had to keep moving from house to house, staying with sympathetic families, to avoid being found while waiting for a chance to get through they city walls somehow. I guess that would make for a slow story, though." She turned her thoughtful gaze to the window. The storm had shifted from rain to snow sometime before midnight. The streetlight outside cast flickers of orange on the new world of white. "The next big thing in the story is that battle with the mercenaries at Gardenia. It's been almost exactly four years since then."

"Four years? So late 2007." Jake paused for a moment. "Do you use the same calendar we do?"

"Yes. And you're right. Alex started coming to Dreamland in early 2006, and we spent that fall and winter in Astoria. Getting to Naroobi took a few months, so did dealing with the Kraken. I guess we were underwater with the mer-folk for the whole first half of 2007, almost. The volume we just finished tonight, the second one, ends that autumn with the start of the Battle of Gardenia."

"2006… that's familiar, somehow," Jake wondered out loud. He considered the significance of the year as he turned on his laptop and navigated to the website he'd explored at his university office. "Hey, what a coincidence. They started posting _The Dreamland Chronicles_ online in 2006." With Felicity watching over his shoulder, they spent several minutes comparing the Dreamland events of the first two books as she remembered them to the dates they were presented online.

Felicity realized that the online posting times mirrored the real events in Dreamland pretty closely, though consolidated into a single day in the story rather than spread over weeks and months as she experienced them.

She and the others in Dreamland had spent a month in 2007 trying to find the Kraken's cave underwater, and a similar amount of time desperately trying to defeat the monster, sometimes looking for it, sometimes hiding from it, including several days in which she was trapped in its cave. Many of these details were even hinted at in the story. It all passed in minutes in the comic, but the amount of time it took to post the account of events online matched her memories from that summer. "So, news from Dreamland is basically being announced in your world in real time, Jake."

"Fascinating… But is this meant for anyone specific to see? Did we tap into a code or hidden message? And why is it being simplified into a children's story?"

The catgirl could only shrug in reply as she began pacing the room again, still unsure of how to feel knowing that everyone on Earth, especially Jake and Jess, had a window into her life in Dreamland, including the secrets she'd rather remain hidden for now.

"Five years ago…" Jake continued to ponder their revelation. "You mentioned a few more battles with Nicodemus after Gardenia. What exactly happened next? Where did you guys go after that?" he asked, but then turned to his computer again as a thought occurred to him. "Wait, I can just check the website…" Felicity walked over to the desk and placed a hand on his before Jake could even open the next chapter. "Hey, I'm just-" His protest was cut short as he looked up and saw Felicity's face. Her expression was one of pleading, as if there was some reason she didn't want him digging through the later archives of the story. "What's wrong?" Jake asked, concerned.

Felicity sighed. The war with the dragon king had been as terrible as any on Earth, and the tragedies she'd witnessed during the conflict weighed heavily on her, but discussing it was still a preferable alternative to sharing the secrets of her past as an agent for the dragon. "After Gardenia, we were in total war with Nicodemus and his allies from the Nightmare Realm. The conflict engulfed all of Dreamland for nearly four years. It touched every corner of every kingdom. From your studies of history, I'm sure you know what that implies." She offered a weak smile.

"I… I'm sorry, it's just…" Jake was taken aback. "It's not quite what I was expecting for a place called Dreamland," he finished, composing himself.

The catgirl nodded. "You've already accepted that Dreamland is real. That includes the bad along with the good, even if that story we've been reading tonight makes it seem fanciful." She picked up the sheckel coin from the desk nearby and studied the image of Nicodemus. "There are some details from that time I'd rather not bring up right now."

"If this is too much, we don't need to keep reading…" Jake offered, though he had a host of questions for her.

She seemed to detect as such and shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. If there's something specific you want to know, I might be able to help."

"That's really brave of you," Jake said, looking back to the screen of his laptop. The Astoria cityscape graced the top of the _Dreamland Chronicles_ website. "I was wondering, when was the Siege of Astoria?" he asked cautiously. "That was the last battle of the war, wasn't it? We haven't gotten to it in the books yet. If… you know, you're ok with talking about it."

Felicity did not respond immediately. She walked over to the small window and looked down on the snowy front yard. When she did answer, it was as if she was pulling the memories from some deep, repressed corner of her mind.

"It started in late autumn last year and finished this spring. We breached the city walls during the winter rains. At first the dwarves insisted on attacking the city head on, saying that any attempt to sneak in lacked honor, but… their battalions foundered in the mud with each assault. Nicodemus's mercenaries were skilled archers. It was awful. Dan eventually came up with a strategy to infiltrate the defenses when Alex told him about the carnage."

Jack listened in fascination to the unfolding account of the siege.

"Once we made it past the walls, it was a long struggle through the city. Nicodemus had his monsters and henchmen hiding in buildings and homes – right among the people. They moved through the tunnels under the streets to avoid our patrols. It took the dwarves, elves and centaurs months to clear them out, one block at a time… It was…tragic. I can only image how _that's_ going to be portrayed in a kids book like this…" she said with a dry laugh.

"What happened to Nicodemus?"

Felicity shrugged. "We don't know. Near the end, he was leading his troops into battle himself against Alex. He retreated into Astoria Tower, which we had to clear just like the city around it: one room at a time. As Dan followed the battle from Alex's accounts, he saw an opportunity for us to break into Nicodemus's treasure room near the top of the tower to find one of the tablets and end the battle. But the dragon had already destroyed the tablet and was waiting for us up there. Alex fought the dragon personally as it fled across the city, though it nearly killed him. Nicodemus was hurt worse, though – he fell from the Astoria airship docks into the sea."

"And you never found the body?" Jake guessed.

"We never found the body," she confirmed.

Jake spent a few moments considering his next question. "Is that… pretty much how the whole war was for you, Alex and Nastajia?"

She thought for a moment before answering. "Yeah. Battles with Nicodemus or his henchmen, building alliances with the other nations of Dreamland, learning more about the magic behind Alex's sword, preparing for the big siege… It was like a shadow over everything then, but…" Felicity explained sadly, but then smiled. "We still had time to live a little. There were so many moments of laughter. Finding those happy occasions is what kept me going through it all. Getting to know Nastajia, learning that Alex knows Nicole in this world…"

Jake was still enthralled by her account. "Well, you certainly came through it smiling, at least. But it's still so incredible…" The revelations cast a new light on the entire concept of Dreamland for Jake. Despite the name, it was not the pristine world presented in the books where children lived out their fantasies each night, but a world much like his own. There was happiness, friendship and laughter, but also struggle, oppression and loss. "Four years…" he said, shaking his head in amazement. "I can see why you're hesitant about showing Jess and I the later chapters. It must have been exciting, at least. Stories like these are why I study history. Maybe I'll have an adventure like that someday."

Felicity frowned and turned back to the window. "Be careful what kind of adventures you wish for, Jake. I'm sure your travels the last few years have met with less misfortune than mine."

Jake was caught off guard. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" he trailed off, unsure how to continue. Jake knew that the accounts of the past he studied were about real people, real triumphs and tragedies, but it was a point that never ceased to fascinate him when he encountered someone who lived through such times. Either from Earth or, now, from Dreamland.

"It's ok." Felicity cast Jake a sympathetic look as she began walking back towards the table and the _Dreamland Chronicles_ books. "A peaceful life like the one you share with your family here should be treasured, even if you find it dull. Nicole said that there are conflicts like Astoria here sometimes. I guess our worlds aren't so different…"

She stopped as Jessica returned with a box, the atmosphere immediately brightened by her cheerful presence.

Jess proceeded to set several green cans from the box on the table. "Felicity, I would like to introduce you to the greatest creation in human history: Mountain Dew!"

The old Felicity was back in an instant, shed of all seriousness of her conversation with Jake. "Mountain what?" she asked curiously, picking up one of the cans from the table. "It's ice cold."

"It's a beverage," Jake explained, keeping up with the happier mood that Jess had brought to the room. "It can help you stay awake if you're feeling tired. Jess swears by the stuff. It's also terribly unhealthy."

"So you drink it because…?"

"Because it's delicious!" Jess answered.

"Riiiiight," Felicity said skeptically, flicking the side of one of the cans as she held it to her ear to hear the ping.

Jess opened a can and held it out to Felicity. "Oh, just give it a try. Here."

Felicity shrugged as she took the can, swallowed some of the liquid, and promptly made a face. "Karth! It feels bubbly and alive!"

"Yeah, if you've never had a carbonated drink before, I can see how that would be weird," Jess said. "But how does it _taste_?"

She was already taking another drink. "Sweet. Very sweet."

"What does 'karth' mean?" Jake asked.

Felicity put down the can laughing, nearly spraying the table with Mountain Dew. "You don't know what karth is?" Jake and Jess shook their heads. Felicity continued, "It's a curse word. You know, like if someone steps on your tail, you yell karth. Or if something is frustrating you, you say karth this. Or to the guard that's been chasing you through town, karth off. It's pretty versatile."

"That's so cool! Jake, we just learned to swear like Dreamlanders!" Jess experimented with the word a few times in various forms, with Felicity offering tips on the finer points of its use in conversation.

"Don't you have curses on Earth, Jess?" Felicity asked.

"Of course. My favorite is zu-" Jake slapped his hand over Jess's mouth before she could continue.

"Uh, how about you, um, bring that up with Alex or Nicole the next time you see one of them?" He turned to his sister as she laughed. "And thanks, Jess. With all this caffeine, she'll be up for the rest of the night now," Jake said as Felicity smiled and shook her head at their exchange. He and Felicity then explained to Jess what they had discovered about the timeline of _The Dreamland Chronicles_.

"What do you think of all this, Felicity? Finding stories from your world being told in ours must feel kinda weird," Jess asked when they had finished.

Felicity picked up the second book again. "As long as they keep telling it like a children's story, I guess it's ok. That seems like a good way to censor anything the Dreamlanders wouldn't want to share."

"Speaking of sharing," Jess began. "You, Alex and Nastajia? You never explained how that triangle turned out." The books had revealed some of the competition between Felicity and Nastajia early on for Alex's feelings, though Felicity had read them without a hint of embarrassment.

"Let's just say that kings prefer princesses over thieves," she answered, flipping through the third book again, then added quietly, "It's always the rich kids that win in the end …"

"Awwww, that's so sad. And she was so rude to you, too," Jess replied, turning back to the ending of the second book. "I'm glad you finally yelled at her about how she was treating you."

Felicity smiled and leaned back on her chair. "Yeah, that was a good day. But she's gotten better about it. Fighting together against Nicodemus and his monsters helped with the whole trust thing. She helped me recover when I was injured in one of the battles, but I think at the time that was for more practical reasons than anything else."

"It must hurt to see them together all the time, though," Jess said.

"Meh. Alex is gone so often and for so long, so it's not like a constant reminder. But that was years ago. I'm over it." She turned her attention back to the book she'd been studying. Jess looked over her to Jake and shook her head. Jake shrugged.

Felicity opened the book to the inside cover, showing the map of Dreamland. "My world is a lot bigger than they show here. And everything's further apart. Lots of open space."

Jake looked over her shoulder at the map. "It's probably a thematic map, only focusing on the places Alex has been visiting in the story. A lot of old Earth maps are like that. They show only cities that matter to some people, and the distance between them is just made up. They only meant to show relative location, so it's nothing you'd want to navigate by. You can't even tell how big the country is in some of them."

"Please, don't get Jake started on maps," Jess begged. "He's obsessed with them and holds tight to nearly every one he finds." The plethora of maps decorating the room made Jake's interest apparent.

"Too late," Felicity said as she looked over to a large map hanging on the wall, wondering where on it Nicole might be. "Is this Earth?"

"Only the part of it called North America. There's more beyond those oceans." Jake answered, then stopped to think for a second. "What's beyond the edges of the Dreamland map?"

"Good point," Jess added. "Is Dreamland even on a round planet like ours? Or is it magically flat somehow?"

Felicity laughed. "A flat world? Please tell me no one on Earth really thought that. I was never educated, and even _I_ know better!"

"Only in myths. So what else is out there?" Jake pressed. "Have you been beyond the Dreamland map shown here?"

"A few times. I liked to stowaway on airships when I was younger. But I learned more listening to stories from airship crews in Astoria." She pointed to the mountains along the western edge of the Dreamland map. "West of the mountains is a great desert. Huge. Airships treat it like an ocean. It's got big monsters that live under the sands, and impressive ruins. There are a few towns on hilltop fortresses that harvest rare desert plants. And I've heard that there's a great kingdom beyond that, west of the desert."

"Do temperatures get colder as you get further north? It looks like a lot of distance," Jake observed.

"I hate the cold," Jess added.

"Me too, and no. Just the opposite. Great blocks of ice have been known wash up on the shores south of Asehndel. It's all forests down there until you reach a cold ocean. It gets pretty hot and dry in the north. But no one sails up there except pirates. The portal to the Nightmare Realm is that way. Though there are old legends about an empire of many islands in the north."

"Ever go by the Nightmare Realm? Back when you sailed on the airships?" Jess asked excitedly.

Felicity looked down at the table thoughtfully for a moment before quietly answering. "Yes." She added no further details, much to Jess's disappointment, and looked to Jake as she changed the topic. "So what's the rest of your world like? Nicole said it's pretty much known. Almost no unexplored places left. Nowhere to hide."

"She's right." Jake picked up a globe from one of the shelves and brought it back to the table. "This is Earth."

Felicity carefully took the globe from him. "Where are we?"

"Right here." Jake pointed to their location in the central United States, then to the edges of the continent. "And those coasts I mentioned earlier, about one thousand miles to the east, and two thousand to the west. All the same country."

"Three thousand miles?!" Felicity exclaimed, looking back to the North America map. "Your country is huge! Dreamland is only a few hundred miles across, at most. How am I ever going to find Nicole in a place like this?" That was the main reason she had come to Earth, after all.

"With this thing," Jake announced as he walked back over to his laptop and motioned for Felicity to follow. "I've been thinking about a way we can help you with that. The first time you were here, did Nicole explain about the internet and computers?"

She nodded. "A bit, though I can't even begin to understand how it all works - you use so many machines here. If I remember right, you can use this thing to send a letter to Nicole. Or to Alex and Dan, even." Felicity said hopefully. "Could… could you send Nicole a message for me?"

"Eventually. But we need to know an email address first…" he stopped hesitantly.

"…And we can find that, right?" Felicity asked after a pause.

"Yes… but we'll need you to go back to Dreamland to get more information from Alex," Jake explained.

Jess looked up in shock. "Back to Dreamland? But she just got here, Jake!" she protested.

Jake held up his hands for calm. "Look, I've been thinking about this since dinner. Felicity, why did you come to Earth?"

"To see Nicole again," she answered quickly.

"Exactly." Jake began pacing around the room as he explained his plan. "We want to help you with that. All that's happening back in Dreamland right now is the search for the floating city, so it seems unlikely that you'd get dragged into something else when you get back there."

"There's really no way to find Nicole from here?" Felicity asked glumly.

"I'm sorry, Felicity. We simply don't have enough information from _The_ _Dreamland Chronicles_ books to find her," Jake answered sadly. "Getting information from Alex is the fastest way to make it happen." He wasn't happy with this part of the plan, but it was the fastest way he could think of to get them in touch with Nicole.

Jess quickly understood what her brother was getting at. She put an arm around the catgirl. "Trust us, Felicity. If Jake has some idea how to help you find Nicole, it will work. He may be boring, but he definitely knows how to figure stuff out. We're on your side in this, girl."

Felicity slowly nodded. "I really appreciate that, guys. But, what if I don't want Alex to know I'm coming to Earth when I'm supposed to be helping find the city of the Guardians?" she asked. "Nastajia wouldn't be too happy to learn I wasn't helping out as planned."

"Hmm… There are still ways to find Alex or Nicole with more general information. Ask about the town they live in, what state they're from, what school they go to, things like that. You can find a way to make it come up in conversation, I'm sure. Perhaps Nastajia even knows. When you get back, I can run the information by some of the census records and other data I have access to through the university. Their private database in unbelievable. That should help narrow our search."

Jess looked concerned. "Jake, this isn't the same as just asking Alex for his email address. We're not going to stalk anyone online, are we? I got banned from WoW for doing that."

"No… Well, yes, but it's for a good reason. And I'm sure once Nicole or Dan or whoever we find learn why we're looking for them," he motioned towards Felicity, "they'd understand."

"One problem," Felicity cut in as a thought occurred to her. "If I go back to Dreamland, I have no idea where on Earth I'll be the next time I use the spell. It could be…" she glanced at the globe. "Brazil, or anywhere."

Jake nodded. "You're right. There are a brazillion places you could end up." Jess groaned at the pun. Jake continued, "That means we might run into a language problem. Most people don't speak English. And I don't suppose you know any other human languages?"

Felicity smirked. "Hujambo! Mimi ni Felicity, wa Dreamland. That's Kiswahili, if you don't speak it, Jake." She turned to Jess. "Or, if you prefer, meine freundin, mein Name ist Felicity. Ich komme aus Astoria im Dreamland. With kids from all over your world, many Dreamlanders know a half dozen Earth languages, or more."

Jake and Jess could only stare at her in surprise.

"Ha, that was Nicole's reaction, too," Felicity said with a laugh. "But focus. Language won't be a problem. Contacting you or Nicole will be. What do I do about that?" She was becoming more accepting of Jake's plan.

"Um…right. Well, we can set you up with your own email address. Then, whenever you come to Earth, you can use it to contact us, where ever you happen to end up. We'll be able to look up Alex or Nicole with the info you find in Dreamland, and then direct you."

"But how will I get access to a computer?" Felicity asked, pointing to the laptop.

"They're all over. It shouldn't be too hard for you to 'obtain' one if you really need," Jake suggested.

Jess coughed. "There's an easier way, Jake" she said, holding up a smartphone with a cracked screen. "Remember Jumpy? He loved the floor a little too much. Still works, though."

Jake nodded. "Or, we could just give her your old smartphone…"

They set up an account for Felicity and added a few apps, then walked her through how to use the device. She needed little coaching. "There. You'll be a hacker in no time!" Jess exclaimed triumphantly as Felicity figured out how to connect to the wifi and sent them each a test email.

"Hacker? I like the sound of that," Felicity said as she set down the phone. "Do go on, Jessica."

"It's like a thief of information. You can access stuff on other computers and take it, copy it, or sabotage it," Jess explained, stifling a yawned.

Felicity looked incredulous. "So you're just sitting there, stealing stuff through a machine the whole time? No sneaking? No stealth? No risk? Where's the fun in that? It sounds nothing like honest thievery!"

"Well, these systems are designed to preventing hacking, so getting around their defenses is kind of like stealth. And if you're caught, you can go to jail, because it's against the law. So it's still risky," Jake answered.

"Have _you_ ever hacked or stolen anything with one of these machines?"

Jake and Jess looked at each other and shared a smile. "Only our entire music collections!" Jess exclaimed. "And practically every movie from the last decade!"

"Awe, beginner thieves! How cute," Felicity said, clapping her hands together.

"Everyone hacks at least a little," Jess continued "It's mostly just corporate or government hacking that will land you in prison. Not that they could hold you for long."

"Thanks, but I'd rather not find out," she laughed.

The clock in the hallway chimed three times. Jess set down her third empty Mountain Dew can and stood from the table, stretching. "Caffeine doesn't help as much as it used to. I've got to get some sleep. When I start to see ions and chemical symbols floating around me, that means it's time to call it a night." She turned to Felicity. "Will you still be here tomorrow?"

Felicity was flipping through the second book and stopped at a page depicting Nicole and Alex during one of his waking moments. She looked up at Jess. "I... I don't know." Jess leaned on the doorframe to listen to her. "You guys have been so helpful to me. I really want to see more of your world, finish _The Dreamland Chronicles_ with you two, and find out why stories from my world are being told in yours... but..." Felicity looked back to the image of her friend in the book. "I really need to see Nicole again. And as Jake said, going back to Dreamland for more information is the fastest way to make that happen." She closed the book decidedly. "I will be leaving tonight."

Jess began to scribble something on a piece of paper. Jake turned to her. "You can't stay up just a little longer to see her off?" he wondered out loud as she wrote.

His sister shook her head. "I need the sleep. You guys probably have some more planning to do to figure out how to reach Nicole when Felicity comes back and I don't want to keep you two from anything." She handed the note to the catgirl and smiled. "And I have faith that you will come back. Take this. These are some other ways to contact me online. And keep the clothes I gave you earlier. As you saw, I have too many anyway," she laughed.

Felicity glanced at the paper and pocketed it, then embraced Jess in a warm hug. "Thank you so much, Jess! You have no idea how much this means. Finding true friends like you two has been…rare for me." She looked towards her brother. "Keep an eye on him for me, will you?"

Jessica smiled. "Promise."

"Why do I need-" Jake started.

"Hush, dear. Just trust me."

After saying her final goodbyes to Felicity, Jess stumbled tiredly to her room.

"So how much longer are you going to stay?" Jake asked once his sister left.

"Not long. I'd just like to look around a bit more. You've collected so much interesting stuff here, and I _really_ want to see more of this world…" Felicity walked back to the shelves that surrounded the room. Most contained books, but others were filled with pictures, souvenirs and mementos from Jake's travels and past.

"Thanks, they're just things that I've… wait… you haven't taken anything, have you?" he asked suspiciously.

Felicity sighed. "Fine. If you must know…" She pulled out the rock with the protruding formations of gold and tossed it to Jake. "That's from your sister's lab. I don't know why you keep gold just laying around like that, but… it was shiny."

Jake inspected the specimen, then smiled. "No worries. This is just pyrite."

"Py- what?" Felicity asked with a puzzled look.

"Fool's gold. Jess says it's only iron and sulfur. I thought it was gold too when I picked it up during a hiking trip last summer." He tossed it back to her. "Keep it. As a souvenir."

"Thanks! This will be one of things I hold on to…" Her expression changed to one of disappointment. "If that spell I used to bring me to Earth just sends me anywhere, I might not end up around here ever again," she said sadly. "Karth, I don't even know how to figure out where I am once I'm here again!"

Jake thought for a second. "Well, the map programs on that phone should be an adequate guide. But if you lose that… I actually have something that will help you. Hang on, I'll be right back; it's in the car." He grabbed a coat and headed out the door.

This was the opportunity Felicity had been waiting for. When she heard Jake's footsteps descending the stairs, she opened the third book of _The Dreamland Chronicles_ and started flipping through it again. _'The Battle of Gardenia - condensed into one little pirate raid, of course. Hilmdel shouldn't be too long after that… Here it is.'_ She began turning the pages more slowly as she neared the end of the book. _'Oh karth, they did mention it.'_

What she sought happened to be the last six pages of that book. The pages detailed an encounter between Felicity, Alex and the others in the dwarf mountain fortress of Hilmdel with Nicodemus. It was here that her past work as a spy and agent for the dragon lord was revealed to her friends, and when she received the injury she'd mentioned earlier. _'It's a miracle they didn't leave me for dead when they found out – they had every right to. What would Jake and Jess think, reading this so soon after we met? I just can't…'_

In a single, deft motion, she sliced the pages from the book with her sharp, claw-like nails, right along the binding. _'Perfect. He'll think the chapter just ended here._ _They'd need to be looking for the missing pages to even notice that they're gone.'_ She folded the pages and hid them away. _'Now, I just need a pen…'_

Jake returned not long afterwards. "Here. This should help you a bit." He handed her a small book, filled from cover to cover with maps – it was one of his coveted atlases. She looked at him questioningly. "I keep one in the car for emergencies because it's small and portable. If your smartphone becomes even more damaged, that can help you. Wherever you end up, just look around for highway signs or town names, then find them on the map, and contact me or Jess on the nearest computer. Tell us where you are, and we'll figure out how to help you from there."

Felicity smiled at him. "Jake, you're forgetting something again," she said, running a hand along one of her long feline ears. "It's not going to be a simple matter of sending me an airship ticket or telling me where to find Nicole."

"Right, that. Well…" He thought for a moment, then recalled his conversation with Felicity earlier in the evening. "Then we'll come and get you."

The catgirl looked at him incredulously. "Really? You'd just put your life on hold to go halfway around the world to help someone you just met?"

"Why not? You said I could use an adventure," he said decidedly.

"I'm glad you're seizing an opportunity to live a little, but," Felicity looked unsure as she flipped through the atlas again. "It's a pretty big world…"

"Not too big to help a friend."

"Are you always so sappy to people you've just met?" she asked, giving him a playful slug on the arm. "I'll hold you to that promise." She studied the globe for a moment longer, then looked back to Jake. "Hey, can I propose a deal?"

"Of course."

"It might be a while before I can return. Promise not to read the rest of _The Dreamland Chronicles_ until I get back, either the books or the computer version, and I promise, after I see Nicole again, to help you and Jess find a way to visit Dreamland. If a spell can bring me here, I'm sure we can find one that goes the other way."

Jake nodded, his face alight at the prospect of traveling to Dreamland someday. "Sure! But how would we enforce this agreement?"

Felicity walked off towards one of the shelves. "I guess I'm just trusting you." She turned and smiled at him. "How about you? Can you trust a thief?"

"If it's an honest one, yes."

Felicity laughed as she began looking at some of the pictures by his bed. One of them was of a family of five. She picked it up and studied it. She could identify a younger Jake and Jess in the image. There were also two adults she did not recognize, notably younger than the grandparents she had met earlier. And there was another child, a boy younger than Jessica. She held the picture up to Jake and tilted her head to one side in a questioning manner. "This was your family? What happened?"

Jake spent a moment looking at the picture longingly before answering. "That was during my last year in high school. I was 17, back in 2005. Jess was 12, and our younger brother, James, was 10. And our parents. James died not long after that picture was taken. Then my parents divorced and moved to opposite sides of the country."

Felicity set a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry… W-what happened? If you'd, ya know, like to talk about it," she asked hesitantly.

"It's okay; that was years ago. The doctors said it was something about the blood flow being cut off to his brain while he slept, kind of like a stroke. They never figured out exactly what caused it." Jake sighed. "But we've moved on, as best we can anyway. Jess and I still have each other, and Grandma and Grandpa. And the memories," he said stoically.

She looked again at the picture. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she placed the picture back on the shelf.

"It's been nearly a decade," Jake said. "James would have loved to learn about Dreamland, though." He changed the topic. "Speaking of, what's involved with the spell to get you back there?"

Felicity glanced sadly at the picture one last time before explaining. "Words and hand motions. It's pretty straightforward, really. Hey, you can help me! I need someone to hold the spell scroll for me while I read from it."

"Sure. But won't you need the scroll to use it again?"

She nodded. "Yes, but it always appears with the person casting the spell, wherever they end up, and whether or not they are actually touching it."

"Fascinating," Jake answered, excited to see magic in use for the first time. "So I guess this is goodbye. Well, for now."

"Yeah, for now. I'll get in touch with you when I get back to Earth, wherever and whenever that happens to be," she said, holding up the smartphone. "And I'll try to bring Nicole with me next time I'm around." Jake offered his hand for a farewell handshake. "Oh, common! Goodbye handshakes are for wimps," Felicity protested as she pulled Jake into a tight embrace, despite his protests.

"Should have guessed you'd be a hugger…"

"Deal with it. Thanks again for everything, Jake. I'll try to make it up to you someday."

"Making new friends is thanks enough." Jake and Felicity held for several seconds. "Um, any time now, Felicity?"

"Oh, right. Let's begin," she said, finally letting go.

Felicity produced a scroll from a pocket and handed it to Jake, then retrieved her old clothes that she had arrived in, now dried out. "The spell somehow just knows what's mine, so all this stuff will travel with me on its own. Now, I need you to stand over here… Perfect! Just hold up that scroll."

Jake did as instructed. He could not recognize the characters of the script, let alone read it. The writing appeared to have influences of both Scandinavian runes and Arabic.

The words Felicity spoke were the equivalent of no more than a few sentences of English, while the physical components were limited to brief chopping motions with her hands at specific words and a nod of the head at the end.

When she finished, there was no apparent effect. "Did it work?" Jake asked with concern. He had read enough stories to know about the possible dangers of a miscast spell, and was legitimately concerned when nothing seemed to happen.

Felicity pressed a finger to her lips for silence.

Although he could not see anything, Jake detected a faint sound, like wind blowing through a forest. Then he noticed that both Felicity and the scroll he was holding had become slightly translucent. "You're fading," he observed.

"So are you. And the whole room. And your voice sounds further away," the catgirl replied, herself starting to sounding like an echo in a cave. The details of the wall behind Felicity were becoming clearer as she slowly faded back to Dreamland.

"How will I know this wasn't a dream when I wake up tomorrow?" Jake wondered out loud.

"Trust me. You'll know." Felicity looked around herself again. The piece of paper Jake was holding had nearly disappeared, though the noise was no louder.

"Wait!" Jake called suddenly. "The artifact from the museum!"

Felicity smiled as she produced the pendant and held it up for Jake to see. "You're a bit late. But nice try!"

There was nothing he could do about it. Jake shrugged in acceptance. "Thief…"

Felicity nodded as their eyes met one final time before she vanished completely. Jake could hear her saying something as she faded out, but it was too distorted to comprehend. Then Felicity, along with the scroll, was gone.

Jake looked around the room. There was no evidence that anyone else had been there. He collected the _Dreamland Chronicles_ books from the table and walked over to the shelf. On a whim, he opened the third book and found a hastily written note in the front cover.

' _Hey Jake,_

 _If you're reading this, shame on you for breaking your promise. But seriously. Apart from Nicole, you and Jess are as good as any friends I have now, even in Dreamland. So I ask again, please don't read any further. I'd rather be around when you find out what happens – some details I'd rather explain myself than have you guys guessing about them._

 _You're new feline friend,_

 _-Felicity_

 _PS: Nice hat._ '

He looked up at the hat Felicity had been toying with earlier in the night. A golden ring had been looped around the key-shaped pin. Jake recognized it as one Felicity had been wearing on an ear. He smiled as he attached the ring firmly to the hat, above the other pins, not to mark a past adventure, but as a reminder of the adventures still to find.


	4. Chapter 4 - Four Years Ago

.

Earthside Chronicles 4: Four Years Ago…

-Dreamland-

Autumn, 2007

After hearing her cry from the front gate, Alex, Nastajia, and the elven advisor Arvamas rushed to join Kiwi at the entrance of Ashendel Castle to observe the hazy clouds of dark smoke rising in the distance. "A fire! It appears to be some sort of battle," exclaimed the elven princess. The advisor handed her a telescope. Ashendel's high towers and hilltop position offered a commanding view of the forests and towns of southern Dreamland.

Nastajia was right: one of the nearby towns was indeed under attack. Through the telescope, she observed several great wooden-hulled airships descending upon the fairy city of Gardenia, their colorful sails billowing in the breeze. Dreamland had endured raids from the mercenaries and pirates of the Nightmare Realm before, but the scale of this attack was unlike any the young princess had seen. Nearly a dozen airships circled over the city, bombarding it with their cannons, while occasional flashes of energy shot upwards at them through the evening twilight as the Fairies countered with an array of magical spells. "Just as I feared," Nastajia said. "Nicodemus has sent his Nightmare Realm mercenaries against Gardenia," she somberly informed the others.

Kiwi was devastated. The thought of such an attack on her homeland was inconceivable. "Oh no! Nastajia, we need to _do_ something!" she pleaded, looking back and forth between her old friend and the distant smoke columns.

"We will, we will," the Elven princess coolly assured her as she took another look through the telescope. "This is the dragon's first overt attack on a nation of Dreamland. Nicodemus has gone too far. This transgression cannot go unanswered!"

Alex had been watching the distant smoke in amazement when he suddenly recalled a conversation he'd had with his young cousin, Joey, before falling asleep back on Earth. "Wait. Gardenia? The Fairy Village? My cousin is there tonight!" he cried, and immediately began running towards the outer gates of Ashendel.

"Alexander, wait!" Nastajia called. He stopped and looked back at her impatiently. "You are not going to make it to Gardenia in any meaningful time on foot," she continued, then turned to her adviser. "Arvamas, how large is that fairy delegation that arrived here yesterday? Are they in any condition to assist us?"

"Nearly one hundred strong, your highness. And yes, they are well-rested."

"Summon them. We shall have the fairies use their magic to carry as many of our archers as they can back to Gardenia to support the defense. Alexander and Kiwi will accompany them." Nastajia turned to the pair. "You two, muster down in the courtyard with the archers and fairies. Paddington and I will assemble the rest of the elven army and then hasten to the relief of Gardenia on foot."

Arvamas stepped forward. "Your highness, if you escalate this conflict, the Nightmare Realm will send even more mercenaries to help Nicodemus. His soldiers and ships already outnumber ours by a wide margin," he warned.

Nastajia grinned. "Well then, it's about time we started evening the score, isn't it? Please relay my instructions, Arvamas."

"Yes, princess," said the adviser. He bowed, then left to rally the archers. Kiwi and Alex looked at Nastajia hesitantly.

"Go!" she ordered, motioning to the courtyard. The fairy and the human hurried off as instructed. Once they were all gone, Nastajia turned and pointed angrily at the tiger-striped individual who had been standing quietly in the corner of the gateway. "As for _you_ …"

"What _about_ me?" Felicity answered indignantly, stepping out from the shadows. She had just been leaving Ashendel after another confrontation with the princess when word reached them of the ominous smoke on the horizon. Ever since Felicity had joined them the year before, the elven princess had made no secret of her displeasure at having the thief in their company.

"I thought you were going," Nastajia said coldly.

"Oh, I will. I just wanted to see Alex head off to battle one more time. Quite a pretty sight, isn't it, princess?" she teased.

Nastajia glanced around to see that the others were out of view, then violently shoved Felicity into the gateway wall and held her there. "Your interest in Alexander ends _now_ , cat! Is that clear?"

"Ack! Fine! You can have your plaything, _elf_!" The catgirl sneered as she quickly worked her way free of the princess's grip. "That is, if you ever get the courage to tell him how you feel..."

"This has nothing to do with me and Alexander!" Nastajia exclaimed, blushing slightly. "This is a matter of security!"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Call it what you want, elf."

Nastajia composed herself. "My personal feelings play no part in this. I am the Princess of Ashendel, and I have no greater responsibility than the safety of my people," she stated calmly, then jabbed a finger at Felicity and declared, "I _know_ you collaborate with Nicodemus!"

"Oh Nastajia, you've learned to play the part of a royal so well, your _highness_ ," mocked the catgirl. "Do you really still believe that double-agent nonsense? I saved Alex from the dungeon, helped you guys escape from Astoria, and even snatched your magical amulet back from Nicodemus!" She ticked off her contributions to the party on her fingers as she went. "Admit it princess, you just can't accept that a poor back-alley thief with no history, a nobody, could be so useful to you highborn!"

The elf princess walked right up to Felicity and looked her square in the face. "You are a thief. You are a spy. And heaven knows what else you've done for that snake," she said calmly. "All your successes against Nicodemus have been too …convenient. It is only by Alexander's repeated appeals that I have allowed you to remain with us instead of locking you in the Ashendel dungeon where you belong!"

Felicity glared right back at her in silence.

"I believe you were just leaving?" Nastajia said after several tense moments, her voice dripping with contempt.

Without a word, Felicity turned and stalked away, her tail twitching with rage.

"One more thing, _cat_ ," Nastajia called after her. "If you are ever found near Ashendel again, or following Alexander and I, it will not end well for you."

"Karth you too, princess," Felicity muttered as she made her way down from the castle gate.

Alex had been kind to her, and she was still more than a little fond him, though this self-righteous princess had ensured she never got too close to the visitor from Earth. Felicity knew she would miss Alex, and Kiwi and Paddington, too. She regretted not having a chance to say goodbye as her friends headed off to battle. But now that her time with them was finished, she had to return to Astoria and report back to the last face in all of Dreamland that she wanted to see.

Once more, Felicity found herself facing an important crossroad without a friend in the world to help her. She was glad that this final mission was nearly over, but struggled to see what she could possibly do next with her life. After experiencing true friendship again with Alex and the others, she desperately wanted to remain with them, but Nastajia had closed that door for her. The catgirl wandered aimlessly through the nightmarket below Ashendel Castle for a while, wistfully thinking about time spent there with her friends as she tried to take her mind from the meeting ahead in Astoria.

It was a warm night. News of the events at Gardenia had not soured the mood of the townspeople. Crowds gathered around each tent, their faces lit by the numerous lamps hanging above. The air was filled with the smells of spices, cooked meats and fresh vegetables. The chatter of traders and shoppers droned all about, while dancers and magicians, storytellers and fortunetellers plied their trades around the market square. A crescent moon setting in the west shone through the smoke of numerous lamps and fires.

Felicity ducked into a shadowy stall when she saw an elven patrol making its way through the crowd. She noticed the hooded figure within, a seller of masks and old parchments, who she had not seen on previous ventures into the market, nod to her in understanding. But as she was about to disappear out the back, he spoke to her in a raspy voice. "Wait a bit, Dragon's Paw." She froze. It had been over a year since she'd heard that name. "They are not looking for you. The guards always pass by my shack at this time," he explained.

"Where did you-" Felicity began, but the conversation of the guards, paused just outside the stall, outside caught her attention. She could catch glimpses of them as she peered through the front curtain.

"… and two companies of archers are going to leave with the fairies tonight," one of the soldiers was telling his comrades. "They should be at Gardenia before sunrise."

"We're finally in open war with Nicodemus then, eh?" asked a young recruit eagerly. "Lucky archers. How long until the rest of us get to see action?"

"Our section leaves tonight with the princess for North Woods Outpost, only a day's march from Gardenia. From there, she'll call in as many of our banners as she can muster. We've been the only ones guarding this part of Dreamland from pirates, so our troops are scattered from the Sundown Mountains to the sea. After a week, with however many soldiers we have then, we'll march on Gardenia. But more importantly, I heard a rumor that they changed dinner for…" Their voices became inaudible as the patrol moved away through the market.

The catgirl returned her attention to the hooded figure. She could now discern the reptilian features of his grinning face beneath the hood. "Who are you? And where did you learn about the Dragon's Paw?" she asked cautiously. There were precious few who knew her by that name.

"Ha!" the hooded figure croaked. "From my master, of course! Lord Nicodemus! All of his spies know that you're the Dragon's Paw, the villain of tales told all across Dreamland!"

Felicity nodded as she realized the true nature of the character before her. "Ah yes. So you _are_ part of Nic's spy ring. About time one of you made it to Ashendel. It makes sense that you'd be in on the secret, then," she said, glancing out of the shack to ensure the elven patrol was still moving away.

The exploits of the Dragon's Paw, the great thief from Astoria, master of subterfuge, escapee from a dozen dungeons, and special agent for Nicodemus, were well-known across the entire realm, though Felicity's identity as this character was a closely-guarded secret. As much as she desired to bask in the fame that accompanied such repute, Felicity knew that the Dragon's Paw had enough enemies among the pilfered great houses of Dreamland for that to be dangerous. It was far safer to remain Felicity and be content with enjoying the reputation of the Dragon's Paw in secret. "And how is Old Nic these days?" she asked with feigned interest.

"Our lord continues with his noble efforts to bring Dreamland into a new golden age!" the spy answered with great enthusiasm. "As demonstrated by my presence here, not even Ashendel is beyond our reach, now!" But then he leaned forward and spoke with a new seriousness. "You might be more helpful to our cause if you would keep us better appraised of the whereabouts of the human and the magic sword! It's been months since you infiltrated their party! I had hoped that with the Dragon's Paw on our side, we'd have secured the sword by now!" He struck the table in frustration. "Perhaps you're taking the role of 'friend' too seriously… please remember which side you're on, Dragon's Paw."

Now it was Felicity's turn to laugh. "Side? You realize this is just a job to me, right? My last job, too! Having someone here in Ashendel to relay information back to Nic was on _you_ guys. Not my fault if you're just now getting an agent out here to make this operation actually work. I'm not on your team, and I don't care about that sword, Nicodemus, or his visions for the future of Dreamland!" She paced around the small shack. "The only reason I do anything for Nicodemus is to work off my sentence. And as soon as I finish this mission, my contract is done! Ten years, finished! I can just walk away from all this a free catgirl!" she declared proudly.

"…Can you, Dragon's Paw?" the spy asked slyly after a moment of thought. "Do you really think you can just show up in Astoria, declare your job to be over, and then walk away? If fulfilling the terms of my lord's contract were not enough to inspire your loyalty, perhaps coercion will encourage you be of further help to us."

She smiled defiantly. "What's Nic gonna do? Throw me in jail? Ha!"

Instead of answering, the spy produced a small sphere of green glass from his pocket and set it on the table before them. Felicity picked up the item and inspected it. "I remember this thing. Nic had me retrieve it from Aethos a few years ago. And another one, but blue, from the Rock Giants in the Tanburry Hills. What of it?"

"Those are Talk-Stones, Dragon's Paw. Using those, when they are activated, it is possible to communicate with someone across the vast distances of Dreamland as though you were standing next to them," the spy explained. "And as you just admitted, both Aethos and Tanburry Hills are missing theirs, thanks to you."

Felicity shrugged. "So I'll need to lay low in Aethos and Tanburry Hills for a while. Big deal."

"There was also the Hilmdel Mechanism-"

"I can avoid that place, too."

"-the key to the Ashendel Archives-"

"Good thing I'm leaving."

"-and the Crown Pearl of Naroobi."

"I didn't like the place anyway."

"You fail to understand me – this is but a sample of the items you've snatched in your role as the Dragon's Paw," he calmly listed off how Felicity had offended every monarch and nation in Dreamland over her career. She was not comfortable with the implication. "Do you really think that simply completing your contract with Nicodemus means they would forgive you for these transgressions? The only thing protecting you from punishment is your anonymity. And if someone were to make that disappear-"

"Fine! I get it!" Felicity admitted unhappily, throwing her arms up. "So I don't have many options…"

"Rather, you have no other options," corrected the spy. "You may flee from us when your contract is over, but do you really think someone with the renown of the Dragon's Paw can keep running from her past forever? Surely your elven friend and that human will learn your secret eventually! Or maybe they already have, and that's why you're hiding…" He held up a large mirror from one of the tables nearby. Felicity could see her silhouette backlit from the door, her long ears drooping lower and lower in despair as the spy went on, "My point is, where else do you have to go? You have no friends. You never have. Nicodemus is really the only one in Dreamland who accepts you for what you are. Mercenary… Thief… Spy… Murd-"

He was cut off mid-word as Felicity rushed to face the hooded figure. In an instant, she had a dagger drawn and leveled at his neck. "A thief!" she yelled, holding the weapon threateningly, her face quivering with rage. "I'm a thief! That's ALL I am…" The hood figure slowly raised his hands to show that he was in no position to resist. Felicity held the dagger in place a moment longer, then lowered it with a sigh. "All I am…now," she muttered as she put away the weapon. "I don't want that to be me, anymore."

"So you'd rather keep running?" the dragon's spy asked coldly.

Felicity hesitated a moment, then quickly bolted from the stall as the hooded figure unleashed a dry laugh behind her. As much as she hated to admit it, he'd been right about something – no matter how much she tried to hide it, she could never truly escape from her past. Any friends she made would eventually shun her once they suspected she'd worked with Nicodemus, just as Nastajia had. She really was alone. With a heavy heart, the catgirl made her way to the Ashendel airship docks to find passage to Astoria, and her loathed meeting with Nicodemus.

The events in Gardenia were not yet affecting air travel. Upon arrival at the docks, Felicity quickly found a vessel bound for Astoria, donned a workman's sash she found laying around, and followed a group of crewmen into the cargo hold. When the airship finally ascended skyward, its hold full of freight, the catgirl was safely concealed among the cargo for the voyage. Avoiding the ship's crew during the flight was not difficult for Felicity, nor was scavenging food from the galley.

They passed over Gardenia the next morning. Great columns of smoke continued to pierce the sky. As Nastajia had reported, this was no ordinary raid. Pirates traditionally appeared without warning, captured as many Dreamlanders and human children as they could, and left in less than an hour before any elven or allied warriors could be rallied against them. Then they traveled north and sold their captives to agents of the Nightmare Realm, who paid handsomely for human children.

This attack was different. Several airships had landed in the fields around Gardenia and disgorged hordes of pirates and mercenaries around the city, putting it to siege. Their larger airships remained aloft, continuing the cannon bombardment. The fairies and newly-arrived elven archers were fighting back as best they could – several burned hulks of pirate airships lay scattered around the city – but even with Alex and two companies of elves, Felicity doubted that Gardenia could withstand such an attack for long. However, if by some miracle it did, there was no question that the siege would be lifted once Nastajia joined the fight with the full weight of the army of Ashendel. But the city would need to hold on for nearly a week before they would arrive.

The airship docked at Astoria that evening. The catgirl was off the vessel and making her way to the Great Tower even before the securing ropes had been tied, gliding through the shadows of the sleeping streets where she'd spent her childhood. Few of her memories of this city were happy ones.

Felicity had grown up a parentless thief in Astoria, taking what she needed to survive. She was caught stealing at a young age, imprisoned in the dungeons below the Great Tower by Nicodemus, the King of Dreamland, and forced to carry out missions for him to earn her freedom. The tasks had started out as trivial things that she could not understand the point of. Following human children in Astoria, stealing books of fairytales and legends of the human world, listening in on grown-up conversations… Though it made little sense to her at the time, it was enough to keep her out of the dungeon – which was all that mattered.

But as she got older, the missions grew in complexity and danger. Felicity found herself leading patrols of Astoria Guards to the human hideouts she'd located in the city, or spying on the other leaders of Dreamland in Aethos, Hilmdel and elsewhere. Eventually, Nicodemus had her delivering captured children to agents of the Nightmare Realm, and even eliminating the most outspoken critics of his rule.

Ten years of service for Nicodemus refined her skills as a spy, scout, thief and assassin. As Felicity completed assignments of greater danger and daring, stories began to spread throughout Dreamland. People heard rumors of a shadowy cat-spy who could break in to any home, out of any jail, snatch any treasure, or steal any secret. Parents would tell their children stories of the 'Dragon's Paw,' elite agent of the dreaded Nicodemus, to make them behave. Apart from Nicodemus and his top spies, no one knew the identity of this individual or what she looked like, except that she was a catperson.

Felicity could not help but take some secret pride in the reputation, though she was never quite comfortable with her life in the shadows – not that she could escape it. She felt sorry for those who suffered because of what she did for Nicodemus. No matter where her missions took her or what fate befell her victims, she never forgot a face. Not the hostages Nicodemus held to ensure she completed her missions, not the children she turned over to the Nightmare Realm, and not the Dreamlanders who paid the price for trying to hide them.

And never Nicole's. The last memory Felicity had of her dear human friend from all those years ago was of her running down the street in Astoria, chased by Nicodemus's henchmen, as Felicity lay helpless in the clutches of the dragon lord. It was the thought of Nicole that had kept Felicity going in those early years. She had searched desperately for her friend after completing that first mission, and at every opportunity afterwards. But once two years had gone by, any chance that Nicole could return to Dreamland had vanished – by then, she was simply too old to enjoy that privilege of childhood. Felicity had moved on, falling in with Nicodemus, eventually becoming the Dragon's Paw.

It was her current assignment that had brought Felicity into company with Alex, Nastajia and the others. The discontent that some Dreamland lords had with Nicodemus was widely known. Felicity had been involved in several espionage missions in Aethos and Ashendel, so infiltrating Nastajia's entourage to track her and the mysterious human had seemed like a simple operation, and despite the princess's suspicions, it was. The friendship offered by Alex, Kiwi and Paddington made it too easy for someone with less-than-honest intentions.

But that same friendship was proving to be her greatest challenge. Felicity had gotten along well enough with her contacts over the years, from airship crewmen to other prisoners to members of the Astoria Thieves Guild, but never anything approaching the friendship she had shared with Nicole, or the circle of friends Alex and the others enjoyed. And they considered her to be part of it!

Such blind trust was unfamiliar to the Dragon's Paw, but at the same time, oddly comforting to Felicity, reminding her of the happier times, before she'd lost Nicole. Now that she'd rediscovered those feelings, Felicity desperately wished to hold on to that warmth again. With her contract to Nicodemus drawing to a close, Felicity had hoped to return to Alex and the others as a genuine friend, though the recent exile by Nastajia had crushed that dream before it began.

With night falling on the city, Felicity evaded the guards around Great Tower, creeping through the side passages rather than the front entrance, and quietly made her way up to the treasury for the dreaded encounter. The torches lining the columns of the treasury cast an eerie glow over the chamber as their flames danced in the wind blowing in from the opened balconies. She waited there, giving the magical runes in the room time to alert the dragon lord to her presence, amusing herself by fiddling with the many golden coins and trinkets that formed Great Hoard. She'd heard rumors from traders that over three-quarters of the wealth of Dreamland had been amassed in that great arched hall since Nicodemus had come to power.

Lost in the memory of her escape from this chamber with Alex and Kiwi, Felicity jumped as the great doors behind her suddenly burst open with a crash. A large red dragon strode in, flanked by a half-dozen guards. "My dear, you are well aware that my castle has a front door. You are perfectly welcome to utilize it occasionally," the dragon said in a deep, booming voice.

The catgirl remained silent as Nicodemus ordered his henchmen out. "Why are you here?" he demanded. "I had thought that a task as basic as 'stay with the princess' would be well within the capabilities of someone with your skills and renown."

Felicity shrugged. "The princess was getting too suspicious. Besides," she shot back, "what's the point of risking my neck spying on them if I can't get the information back here? Oh wait, that's right: I was supposed to depend on someone else for that part. My bad," she continued sarcastically. "You said in your last message that someone would meet me at the Ashendel markets from day one. I did not find _any_ of your agents until just yesterday, Nicodemus."

"That's _King_ Nicodemus, whelp," he replied, turning towards one of the balconies adjacent to the treasure hoard and motioning for her to follow. The correction of his title had been a part of their greeting ritual since Felicity had first been captured. He had learned to be patient with the catgirl's insolent attitude over the last ten years. "Our agent ran into…difficulties getting into Ashendel. He is too eager, and I honestly do not expect him to survive his time there."

Felicity joined the dragon king on the balcony. "Your attack on Gardenia is going to fail, Nic. Those pirates and mercenaries don't stand a chance once Nastajia's army arrives in a few days," she explained as she leaned on the balcony, studying the city below.

"My dear, whatever are you talking about? I am at peace with the people of Gardenia, as I am with all of Dreamland. I can protest to the emissaries of the Nightmare Realm for these transgressions, but if the pirates that traverse our skies occasionally mount a major attack, how can I be held responsible?"

"Even if some of your subjects still believe that, no lord in Dreamland does."

Nicodemus gazed towards the southern horizon in the direction of Gardenia, though it was too far away to see any sign of the battle taking place there. The last traces of twilight had left the sky. High, thin clouds filtered out most of the stars, while the crescent moon, slightly larger than the night before, loomed hazily in the west, casting the faintest highlights of silver on the hills and fields around Astoria. "…What have you learned?" he asked presently.

Felicity detailed the orders Nastajia had given for the fairies, the archers and Alex to reinforce Gardenia by air while the larger army was being prepared just a days march away. The dragon took in the information without a word.

Nicodemus had been tracking Alex for some time, and had even arrested him not long after he started returning to Dreamland as an adult. Felicity had been planted in the jail cell next to Alex and facilitated his escape with the understanding that she would eventually lead the human, along with his magic sword, back to Nicodemus. The attempt had failed, and Felicity had ended up fleeing from Astoria with Alex and Nastajia. Nicodemus eventually sent her word to remain with the princess, monitor their activities, and await further instructions.

"So this human is en route to Gardenia? With the sword?" the dragon asked.

"He's already there," she corrected.

"Hmm. Interesting. Very interesting." Nicodemus tapped his claws on the balcony railing as he pondered the new developments. "This almost makes up for your previous failure. You know he would not be running around still if you had succeeded in your last mission," Nicodemus said with a glare. He motioned back towards the piles of treasure behind him. "What ever did you do with that little trinket you took, by the way? I had hoped my mages could learn its full purpose before you…pilfered it." During the escape from Astoria, Felicity's thieving urges had gotten the better of her as she swiped a small, glowing amulet from the treasure room that had caught her fancy on their way out of the tower.

Felicity bristled at the criticism. "I left it in Ashendel. They can't figure it out either, so no worries." She hesitated before continuing, "I got Alex up here, as instructed. When he decided to jump, I followed the original plan: stay with them. I figured it would be most useful."

"Failure is failure, Felicity, no matter what you make of it. The simple fact is that you were instructed to assist in obtaining the sword, but I still do not have it. I'm sure the Dragon's Paw would hate to have this poor result on her record. I'm equally sure those unfortunate children down in the cell blocks will be especially sorry if you fail me again." Felicity balled her hands into fists at the threat, but said nothing. Nicodemus went on, "Go back to the princess. Make their counter-attack as ineffective as possible."

"I can't do that!" she retorted. "I'll be killed! Nastajia suspects me, and I can't depend on the trust of the others forever. Besides, my contract-"

"-is over when I say it is over," the dragon lord declared, then shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder whose side you're on, my dear Felicity. Please do understand: this is your side, whether you like it or not. And let's be quite honest: you fit right in. How many children have ended up in the Nightmare Realm because of you? How many insurrectionists and traitors have you brought to justice to keep my peace?"

Felicity remained silent as she looked down at her hands, recalling all that she had done with them in the name of 'peace in Dreamland'.

"If Nastajia had her way," Nicodemus continued, "or if the identity of the Dragon's Paw became known, no one in Dreamland would accept you as a friend. And what would your dear Alexander have to say if he learned how…effective, your efforts in support of my rule have been?"

It was several contemplative moments before Felicity replied. "You're right," she answered quietly, blinking away a tear.

"You know that there can be no true friendship between Dreamlanders and humans. They leave us when they are old enough, too concerned with their own world to offer a care for ours. Just like that friend of yours who ran off the day I brought you in from the streets. Do you remember her? She never did come back for you, did she? No, your home is here, my friend," Nicodemus assured her, gently wrapping his large hand over her shoulders. "So it is in your best interest to contribute to this noble undertaking: the unity and purification of Dreamland, and our salvation from the human menace. And now, your contribution will be to impair Nastajia's progress at Gardenia until I can arrive with an army to put down her rebellion once and for all."

"H-how do you propose I do that?" the catgirl asked in a sad whisper, the words of the dragon king weighing heavily on her heart.

"Use your imagination, my dear child. Misdirect them, spread rumors, kill their messengers, distract that _handsome_ human they have accompanying them… whatever it takes! And once the magical sword is safely in my claws, perhaps we can renegotiate the terms of your pardon."

"I feel like I'm never getting ahead on this pardon deal," Felicity sighed. "This was supposed to be my last job…"

"Here is a spot of wisdom for you, young one. No one ever really gets ahead in life. The best one can do is to try to complete the tasks set before them, no matter how long it may take. And your current task lies in Gardenia. Now go."

Felicity shook her head as she walked towards the door. She stopped there and turned back to the dragon king. "You know I'm probably going to die on this mission, right?"

He said nothing. Felicity waited a few moments and then, receiving no reply, continued on her way. "I wonder if it would not be better if you did, dear child," Nicodemus muttered once she'd gone.

As she often did after Nicodemus gave her another horrific task to accomplish, Felicity spent the next few hours wandering in despair through the dim streets of Astoria. She was thankful they were deserted at such a late hour. The desire for sleep tugged at her mind, but she ignored it. As always, she found herself on the block where she'd first been captured. It was the last place she had seen Nicole.

Sometimes, Felicity would run down the street in the direction she had seen Nicole go after their final meeting. She would imagine being able to chase after Nicole, and her life would pick up on that sunny afternoon ten years before. The decade of violent servitude she'd endured for Nicodemus would be no more than a bad dream, a mere shadow on her mind, instead of the reality she had suffered through day by day.

But this time, she just sat on a curb, sunk her head into her hands, and wept. Nicodemus was asking her to hurt the only people who'd called her friend in the last ten years. She'd always thought deep down that what she did was wrong, but could never see any way out of it. She was caught in the dragon's contract. Every step closer to freedom meant another horrific task for Nicodemus, and another night crying on a street corner as she struggled with the weight of what she had to do.

"What's wrong, miss?" Felicity lifted her tear-streaked face to find a human child standing in front of her in the otherwise-deserted street. With the girl's black hair and dark skin, Felicity at first thought she was looking at a young Nicole. She was too choked up to offer a reply.

"Mommy says no one should cry, because that's time you could be smiling. You should go be with your friends. It always makes me feel better. Maybe it will make you feel better, too!" The little girl started to fade out as she awoke back on Earth. "Bye!"

Felicity managed a hesitant wave before the child disappeared entirely. She looked around and saw no one. The night remained calm. The nearby chirp of crickets competed with the subtle clank of machinery from the factory district. The sky had cleared, revealing a field of stars only slightly diminished by the flickering city lights. A gentle night-breeze carried the scent of the autumn leaves from beyond the city walls into Astoria, and from a house down the street, Felicity thought she could hear children laughing.

Despite everything that had happened to her recently, Felicity felt an odd sense of calm, a reassurance that there was hope for finding a better life, that she would not always be weighed down by the mistakes of her past or the contract to Nicodemus. She could feel the uncertainty and despair that had plagued her since leaving Ashendel vanish, and in its place remained a new-found sense of purpose, a clarity that she had not known in years. Felicity turned and looked back down the street where she'd last seen Nicole. "Thank you," she whispered, then headed for the docks, confident of what she had to do.

Pushed by a strong wind, the airship made its way south, bringing the smoke columns still rising from Gardenia into view just hours after leaving the capital. As they approached the battlefield, Felicity could discern more and more details of how the siege had progressed. Numerous buildings in Gardenia were destroyed. More smoldering wrecks of airships dotted the city and the landscape around it, though many more remained in flight overhead. But the main development Felicity noticed was the network of trench lines and earthen fortifications surrounding Gardenia, constructed by the pirates in their attempt to cut the city off from further reinforcements.

Suddenly, Felicity's airship gave a sharp lurch and began to descend. She remained out of view as the crew scrambled around, preparing for an emergency landing, and struggled to overhear what had happened. Curses rang out against the pirates – one of their massive airships had mistaken them for enemy reinforcements and was forcing them to land for inspection. Felicity was relieved that they were not crashing, though this would delay her return to Ashendel. She had no choice but to watch the approaching ground and the battle to which they were headed.

As the airship made for an empty field behind the pirate defense lines, Felicity could discern more and more of what was happening in and around Gardenia. The pirate airships continued to rain destruction upon the city with their cannons. Companies of fairies surged like glowing clouds against the pirate trenches to weaken their fortifications with magic missile fire. In other areas, waves of pirate attackers rushed from their trenches towards the city, only to be cut down mercilessly by elven archers. Within the city itself, fairies and elves worked together to extinguish fires and comfort the human children who had the misfortune of appearing there. Felicity could see no sign of Kiwi or Alex, though with the battle raging around, she was not really expecting to.

Felicity could only stare in awe at the sick spectacle. The pirates and mercenaries took many more casualties every time they rushed against the Gardenia, but they always took a few fairies and elves with them. The pirates could afford such losses, while every slain defender would be keenly missed by Alex and the others desperately trying to hold the city. She felt a sudden wave of concern for Alex and Kiwi. She had traveled with them for nearly a year, and knew that with personalities like theirs, both were likely to be at the forefront of the defense.

The airship landed near a pirate encampment behind their trench lines. As the rest of the passengers and crew were led away by the pirates for questioning, Felicity remained in hiding for a while, then snuck off unnoticed towards the camp, hoping to find a way to help her friends trapped in Gardenia. The camp was a disorganized maze of haphazardly erected tents, barrels, crates, and campfires. The catgirl had no difficulty avoiding the few guards patrolling it as she slowly made her way around, looking for an opportunity to sow disorder among the pirates. As she neared the center of the camp, Felicity discovered the pirates' headquarters tent, richly adorned with skull and crossbone flags, and realized her best chance to influence the battle likely lay within. With no guards in sight, she quickly made for the tent.

"You!"

Felicity froze mid-stride as a tall, red-coated figure suddenly emerged from the tent and bellowed to her. With his great hat, eye patch and chest full of medals, it was clear that this was a high-ranking leader among the pirate. "Who are ya, eh?" he demanded.

"I… uh…" Felicity struggled for a moment, then a thought hit her. She snapped to attention and saluted. "Dragon's Paw, reporting for duty, sir!"

The captain's good eye widened slightly. "Arr, _the_ Dragon's Paw?" Several others from the tent had joined him. Some were pirate officers, while others were obscured under hoods and cloaks.

"The one and only!" Felicity said proudly, crossing her arms.

One of the hooded figures stepped forward. "This is indeed the Dragon's Paw, sir. I spoke with her in Ashendel just a few days ago." Felicity recognized the spy from the market. He smiled maliciously. "It is good to see that our Lord Nicodemus was able to…inspire your continued loyalty to our cause, Dragon's Paw!"

Felicity nodded enthusiastically. Before she could answer, the pirate captain motioned towards the tent. "No doubt you be brin'in' us fresh orders from t' king. Come join t' conversat'n." She filed into the dim tent with the others and took a place at the far end by the captain's chair. "Aye, this be the toughest o' battles I yet be in, but with you here, t' day will be ours!" the captain declared triumphantly.

A long table littered with papers and tankards took up most of the tent while lanterns above cast a flickering light over the stuffy room. A few pirates who had remained in the tent were enthusiastic to learn that the legendary Dragon's Paw would be assisting them in the battle. "So what word from Nicodemus, miss?" asked one of the pirate officers. "Be there a new plan? Our lads keep fallin' afoul o' these elf archers."

"Yes… the new strategy…" The catgirl glanced back across the tent to the entrance as she hesitated. "We will… first…um… Just let me see the current plan," Felicity demanded suddenly. One of the nearby officers looked to the captain. He shrugged, and the officer placed a large map in front of Felicity.

"This be the plan at t' moment, includin' t' scheduled attack times," he explained. "Straight from t' king. As ya know, without word from Nicodemus, we can't be doing anythin' else. He was right clear o' that."

The catgirl looked up from the map in surprise. "Really? You need orders directly from _Nicodemus_ to change your tactics?"

"Arr, it be so," nodded the pirate captain. "Tis a shame, should those cursed elves or fairies figure out what we be doin', no way we can change our strategy 'til Nicodemus approves it," he explained with a dejected sigh. "I be thinkin' he don't trust us pirates no more…"

A sly smile crept over Felicity's face as she picked up the map. "Ok then. First, we're going to- 'KAY!-THANKS!-BYE!" In a single fluid motion, she snatched up the map, jumped onto the table and darted for the entrance. The pirates gasped in shock. Several made half-hearted grabs for her, but she was out of the tent before any had a chance to seize a weapon.

"Arr! After her, ya dogs!" she heard the pirate captain bellow as she zigzagged away through the camp, tripping one of the guards outside as she ran. Shots rang out behind her. She dodged behind a barrel as several musket balls _thwacked_ through the canvas of a nearby tent.

"Missed me!" she called back before rushing around another corner. A tired-looking pirate appeared in front of her from one of the tents. Felicity shifted her weight, swung her foot out and caught his ankle. The hapless pirate went sprawling as Felicity bounded over him and kept running, still holding on to the map. She heard curses behind her as the pirate captain tripped over his fallen comrade and stumbled into a nearby crate. "Are you guys even trying?" she shouted back with a laugh after glancing over her shoulder and seeing the fiasco.

More shots followed, kicking up the dirt around her as she ran. This was exciting! Felicity had enjoyed some thrills on her missions for Nicodemus, but escaping from the midst of a pirate army was unlike anything she had experienced before. She threw back her head and laughed with exhilaration as a third volley from the pirate gunners pierced the air around her, one of the shots barely grazing her tail. The paused just long enough to make sure there was no permanent damage, then stuck her tongue out defiantly at her pirate pursuers before resuming her escape.

Soon, Felicity was out of the camp and making her way through the trench lines of a nearby cannon battery. Upon hearing the commotion in the camp, the cannoneers had ceased their shelling of Gardenia to investigate. Two pirates jumped out at Felicity from one of the cannon pits, swords drawn. The catgirl froze, unsure of what to do as they closed in. "Thinking, thinking, thinking!" she muttered to herself as her eyes darted around for an idea, until she noticed the signal lantern hanging nearby. She seized the lantern and cast it underhand towards the pirates.

It sailed high over them, but Felicity was already running. Judging by the mess and disorder at the campsite, she surmised that their cannon batteries would be similarly unkempt. Cannonballs rolling about, range-finding equipment unmaintained… and barrels of gunpowder left opened. Felicity ducked against the trench wall just as a great explosion proved her correct.

As the shockwave passed, the catgirl poked her head up over the rampart and smiled in glee as a giant fireball made its way skyward from where the cannon pit had been. Felicity glanced around. The few pirates that had been in the area were either responding to the explosion or fleeing. In the confusion, she found an abandoned section of trench and took the opportunity to finally examine the map she had stolen. As the captain had said, every attack was depicted in full detail. Felicity was still trying to decipher the other details on the map when a cry from the pirates' front line trenches snapped her concentration. Peering over the wall, she saw dozens of pirates running away from their front trenches as smaller explosions rocked the ground around them. Squinting, the catgirl realized that the fairies of Gardenia had begun a counterattack.

Hundreds of the small flying people surged out of the city and over the blasted landscape and the pirate siege lines. Some of their companies made for the commandeered airship to seize the supplies it had been carrying, but most targeted the remaining cannons around Felicity. Still in chaos from her disruptions, the surviving pirates failed to put up an effective resistance as the cannons blew up one after another in magical detonations. With the pirates reeling from this latest setback, Felicity broke cover to make a run for the next trench when she heard her name.

"Felicity! You're all right! What are you doing here?" called a familiar voice. Felicity ducked behind a charred crate and soon spotted the bright pink glow of the fairy who was addressing her.

"Kiwi!" she exclaimed with joy, then motioned around her. "Oh, you know, just saving the day," the catgirl answered with a grin.

The fairy glanced around. "Ha, clearly! But back there at Ashendel… Alex and I overheard your conversation with Nastajia, and then you were gone! I thought for sure you'd be done with us after that," she asked, flying closer to her friend. "Are you really back for good?"

Felicity laughed. "Please! You really think I'd skip out on you guys just because Princess Nasty throws a temper tantrum? No way! And besides," she shrugged, then looked back towards Gardenia. "I saw what was happening here, and, well, I just couldn't let you and Alex have all the fun!"

"Really? That's great!" Kiwi flew up and hugged Felicity's nose with her tiny arms. "But what have you been doing? We haven't seen you around," she asked curiously.

"That's the point! Remember that explosion not too long ago?" Felicity said with a smile, pointing at herself.

" _You_ did that? How wonderful! Grandfather Pistachio ordered my team to attack right after that. We thought we were just taking advantage of the pirates' carelessness…"

The catgirl gave a mock bow. "Nope! All me!" she exclaimed, then recalled the map she'd been carrying. "Hey, I also snatched something back there. You gotta see this…" With the fairy raid still underway around them, Felicity quickly outlined how she had obtained the map.

Kiwi shook her head as she studied the details. "This is not good," she declared gravely. "See these first three attacks? They've already happened. Now see the next one?" The fairy tapped lightly on the map with her foot to indicate a great red arrow directed at the center of Gardenia. "This is the next one, planned for dawn tomorrow it seems. It looks like they're going to hit us with _everything_!" She looked up at her friend with desperate eyes. "If we prepare all night, we might hold on for a while, but…. Oh, I wish Nastajia would hurry up and get here, but she's still several days away!"

The pair sat in a gloomy silence. Felicity considered the awful news as she struggled to think of a way they could somehow prevent the attack. As she peered up through the smoke, Felicity could see the enemy airships beginning to reform and drive the fairies back with renewed cannon fire. Already, most of the surviving fairies were retreating towards Gardenia. Back on the ground, the pirate captain led his men through the trenches, securing them again one by one, the crack of muskets marking their progress. Kiwi and Felicity did not have much time.

"Hey, Kiwi?" the catgirl asked presently. "Did Alex ever find his cousin?"

The fairy nodded happily. "Alex and the pirate captain fought several close contests over him, but Joey is now safe in Gardenia. Well, as safe as he can be in that place…" she said with a sigh. "I hate to think what will happen to all those kids if the city falls and the pirates capture them…"

Her friend's words brought a host of bad memories back to Felicity. The raids in the night, the black ships of the Nightmare Realm, the cries of little voices, fading away into darkness… "Not me anymore," she muttered to herself, then turned to Kiwi. "We're not letting that happen! Can you get back to Gardenia to warn them about the attack?"

"Sure," Kiwi nodded. "But Nastajia won't be here for several days! Without the elves-"

"I'll take care of that," Felicity cut in. "The edge of the forest isn't too far away. If I can just make it there, I can then get to her encampment just up the road and tell Nastajia to get her butt up here with whatever warriors she's been able to gather!" She had to yell to be heard over the din of the growing cannon fire around them.

Kiwi thought for a moment. "By the time you get there, they'd have to run to make it in time, but that could still work." She glanced around. Most of the fairies were already back in Gardenia as the pirates reestablished their siege lines. "We'll need to hurry, though. These guys seem to have recovered from our attack. Hmm," A mischievous look crept across her face. "Hold on!" she warned.

In an instant, the tiny fairy grabbed on to Felicity's shoulder, and with her magic, whisked the catgirl up into the air. Several pirates pointed up at them in alarm as the pair soared overhead, but they were well out of range before any muskets could be readied. "Man, I so wish I could fly like this on my own!" Felicity called up to her friend as they glided over the back of the pirate siege lines, away from Gardenia.

The fairy only grunted in reply. It was not long before they were concealed along the edge of the forest. Kiwi set Felicity down along the Ashendel Road. "We don't have much time. The pirates are going to start looking for you," the fairy said as she panted to catch her breath. "Will you even make it to Nastajia in time?"

"You know it, girl! I can move twice as fast as any elf through these trees. Don't you worry your wings, we _will_ save Gardenia!" Felicity declared as she pumped her fist triumphantly, turning towards Ashendel. "Just keep yourself safe getting back there!"

"Felicity! One more thing," the fairy called, flying up to her. "What Nastajia said back at Ashendel… you never _really_ worked for Nicodemus, right?"

The catgirl hesitated a moment. "…Of course not. I would never do anything to hurt you guys. You're my friends, right?," she smiled innocently.

Kiwi gave her friend a final hug on the neck. "Of course we are. I'm sure Nastajia will come around eventually. Stay safe, Felicity!" she called as she hurried back towards Gardenia.

Felicity waved as her friend soared back to her besieged home, then took off running down road towards Ashendel. "Friends … I _will_ make this work," she whispered to herself reassuringly. "Whatever it takes…"

The sounds of the battle receded as she plunged deeper into the forest. Birds called from the trees as she ran down the deserted road. Felicity could still see the rising smoke behind her at times, but apart from that, she was completely enveloped by the serenity of the forest, the battle left far behind. After several hours of running, she paused at a clear meadow stream to drink. Shadows enveloped the meadow as the sun sank below the trees. "They never need to know. We're real friends now," she told herself as she renewed her journey. "I need to be careful, though. Nastajia will never believe me. But Paddington…"

It was well past sunset when she finally reached the elven encampment. Though tired, she successfully evaded Nastajia's scouts as she made her way into the camp. A low, steady rumble caught her attention. Looking around, she traced the noise to the expected source – the rock giant Paddington, doing his part to patrol the outer edge of the camp. The catgirl slipped out from the shadows to let herself be noticed by the giant.

"Felicity!" he called cheerfully upon noticing her.

The catgirl put a finger to her lips. "Do you want Nastajia to hear you?!" Felicity asked frantically. "Hush!"

"Uh, Okay," said Paddington, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Where have you been? Back at Ashendel, Kiwi was worried you were gone for good."

"I went to Gardenia. I had to see it for myself. I… snuck a ride on an airship to get there," Felicity explained quickly, then held up the map from the pirate camp. "Hey, I need a favor. Can you give this to Nastajia, but not mention that I'm back? Like, say a fairy messenger brought it in?"

Paddington scratched his head and shrugged as he took the map gingerly between his fingers. "I guess, but I don't see why it's such a big deal. Why don't you want Nastajia to know?"

A bush rustled nearby. "Because I said I would kill her on sight if I ever saw her again," said the elf princess, stepping out from the tree line. "Do you not remember, cat?" she added, her eyes aflame with anger as she approached Felicity.

Felicity put up her hands in protest as she took a step back, but her response was drowned out by Paddington's laughter. "Oh Nastajia, you have the strangest ways of saying hello! Felicity brought you this from Gardenia," he said, holding up the map.

The elven princess barely glanced at it. "I don't need to see that forgery to know that she's trying to lure us into a trap!" Nastajia exclaimed. "Guards, arrest this spy and-"

"Uh, Nastajia?" the rock giant cut in as he squinted at the map. "You really should see this."

Nastajia took the map and studied it this time. "So it's a well-done forgery. What exactly am I looking at?" she asked.

Felicity spoke up hesitantly. "That's… why I came back. Alex and Kiwi are going to be overwhelmed in the next attack tomorrow morning, unless we can hit the pirates first!"

The princess looked up at her incredulously. "We only have seven companies gathered so far. Even if your map isn't a lie, it's going to be several days before we have enough forces to stand against an enemy of this strength," she explained.

"We don't have time for that. Alex and Kiwi don't have time for that," Felicity began slowly. She'd been thinking of this plan during her journey to the encampment. "Just leave some guards here to direct any other reinforcements that arrive straight to Gardenia, and let's move with everyone else. We just need to keep the pirates from sending _everything_ against Gardenia tomorrow morning. And the army you have here is enough for that," she explained. "We can figure out the rest from there."

Nastajia shook her head. "You're trying to trick-"

"I'm trying to help my friends, princess!" Felicity yelled. "Do you ever want to see Kiwi again? Or your precious Alexander? I do." She lowered her voice, then continued. "I'm going back to Gardenia. If you want to come with to save your friends… to save _our_ friends… we can make this work," she concluded with a soft smile. "Just give me a chance..."

The princess only stared back at her coldly, her face pale in the moonlight.

"Fine," Felicity said with a shrug. She turned and started walking back towards Gardenia, alone.

As Felicity reached the edge of the encampment, she smiled as she heard a low rumble behind her. Paddington was following, as she'd known he would.

"Paddington, where are you going?" Nastajia cried.

The rock giant continued without breaking stride. "A friend of Alex is a friend of mine, Nastajia. If Felicity says our friends are in danger, I intend to do something about it."

The elven princess cursed to herself as she turned to a nearby lieutenant. "Ready the companies and have them follow us with all haste," she ordered, then ran to catch up with Paddington and Felicity.

The catgirl looked to her and smiled. "Nice of you to join us, princess."

Nastajia gave her a sharp look. "If this ends up being an ambush-"

"Yeah, yeah, then it's my head on a pike, I get it," Felicity said with a yawn as she turned to Paddington. "We need to get to Gardenia before sunrise if we're going to save Alex and Kiwi. Can the princess and I get a ride?"

"You got it!" the rock giant said happily. In single motion, he snatched up both the catgirl and the elf princess and placed them on his back, then took off running with the elven warriors struggling to keep pace. "To Gardenia!" he called.

While desperately trying to hold on, Felicity looked over and caught Nastajia's eye, then flashed her a thumbs-up. Nastajia pretended not to notice as she turned her attention to warriors following behind. The catgirl smiled to herself as she breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan had worked! Nastajia and Paddington were going to save Gardenia. She had escaped from Nicodemus once and for all, and was on her way to having real friends again. Felicity finally felt like she was where she belonged, and she intended to stay.

For as long as she could keep a secret.


End file.
